Yes, within law: retain counsel access, notify family, preserve lawful evidence — no, you may not script the employee’s confession on WeChat.
Companies often want to ‘help’ a detained employee: paying a lawyer, contacting family, collecting documents, or deciding whether the company is also a victim. Help is possible and sometimes expected for expats. Crossing into obstruction, evidence destruction, or witness coaching creates new exposure. If the company is the victim (embezzlement), interests conflict — separate counsel. This page is the employer decision desk. Foreign-detained and consular pages cover nationality overlays.
4 questions before you choose the route.
This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.
Is the company victim, employer-only, or both?
Conflict check.
RolePRC criminal counsel for the person?
Logistics help.
CounselWhat documents can lawfully be provided?
No deletion.
DocsPublic statements needed?
Usually less is more.
PRWorking rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.
The signal ledger.
These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.
Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.
Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.
Questions people ask before they build.
Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.
Should we fire them immediately?
Labour and evidence consequences — counsel first. Knee-jerk dismissal can destroy cooperation and create labour claims.
Can we sit in the interrogation?
No. That is not how PRC criminal interrogation works.
Primary authorities
Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.