Where is the boundary for employers to manage workers when enterprises excessively interfere with employees' private lives

From forbidding employees to buy a brand of car to requiring employees to exercise a certain number of steps every day, otherwise money will be deducted; From prohibiting employees from talking about office romances to requiring them to forward company advertisements in social circle of friends every day... Recently, the company's involvement and interference in employees' private lives have often caused social concern and heated discussion.

"Where is the boundary for employers to manage workers?" Many employees asked?

The reporter of the Law Daily recently found that many units, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, have the problem of interfering in the private life of employees to a certain extent. In the view of some managers, this is the management system of the enterprise, even the enterprise culture, which is conducive to work and enterprise development; In the view of many managed people, this has seriously affected their private lives and infringed on their legitimate rights and interests.

In September this year, a company in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province issued the Subsidy Policy for Companies to Buy Cars, saying that because a brand enterprise plagiarized the company's rear tent patent, the company's management was prohibited from buying a brand car or driving a brand car when commuting.

The company's move attracted wide attention. As a follow-up, the relevant person in charge of the company released a video saying that it was thoughtless for the company to prohibit executives to buy a brand of car, which has been criticized by the relevant departments and apologized to the company's employees and netizens.

The interviewed experts believe that similar phenomena occur from time to time, which reflects the unclear management authority boundary between employers and workers.

The vice president of the School of Labor Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business believes that, because subordination is the essential feature of labor relations, employers have the right to give management instructions to workers. Although the Labor Contract Law and other laws and regulations limit the management authority of the employer to matters directly related to the labor contract, in practice, the boundary is not clear and specific, that is, under what circumstances, in what aspects and to what extent the employer can give management instructions to workers.

"As a result, there is a conflict between the management power of employers and the autonomy of workers in life." Scope said.

In the opinion of Wang Tianyu, the deputy director of the Social Law Office of the Law Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the overmanagement of workers by employers is a pain point in the implementation of the labor law, which not only shows the blurry boundary between the management scope of employers and employees' private affairs, but also shows the imbalance of rights between employers and workers.

"The question now is to what extent the employer manages the workers, which is basically the decision of the employer, especially the decision of the management of the employer, which has led some employers to extend their management tentacles to the private affairs of the workers," said Wang Tianyu.

According to the provisions of the Labor Contract Law, the employer shall establish and improve labor rules and regulations in accordance with the law to ensure that workers enjoy labor rights and perform labor obligations. If a worker seriously violates the rules and regulations of the Employer, the Employer may terminate the labor contract.

This means that there are relatively clear provisions in the labor law for employers to manage workers, but in practice, why do employers still frequently interfere with employees' private lives?

The main reason for the scope analysis is that, in the field of labor relations, China as a whole is "strong in capital and weak in labor", and the local labor supervision and law enforcement force is relatively limited; From the perspective of internal employers, trade unions in some places have not effectively played their role in restricting employers, and some employers have abused their management power and cannot be effectively restricted.

"Another reason is that the overall compliance awareness and compliance culture of the managers of employers (especially small and medium-sized micro enterprises) are lacking. The concept of taking the unit as their own home is still prevalent among the bosses and managers of enterprises, which leads to the intentional or unintentional breakthrough of the management boundary and improper intervention in the life autonomy of workers." Scope said.

Wang Tianyu reminded that the reasons for the provisions of labor laws and the implementation mechanism should not be ignored. On the one hand, the labor law was formulated many years ago, and the relevant provisions are not detailed enough; On the other hand, the implementation mechanism of labor laws, such as labor supervision mechanism, needs to be fully developed.

It is worth noting that in August this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Public Security and the All China Federation of Trade Unions jointly formulated and issued the System for Preventing and Eliminating Risks and Hidden Dangers of Improper Management in the Workplace (Reference Text) (hereinafter referred to as the Reference Text) to guide employers to prevent and eliminate risks and hidden dangers of improper management in the workplace and standardize employment management.

It stipulates that employees are not prohibited from leaving the workplace during non working hours and are not required to live in the dormitories and other residences operated by the unit; It is strictly prohibited to force employees to work by means of violence, threat or illegal restriction of personal freedom.

Yang Baoquan, senior partner of BOC Beijing Law Firm, believes that the Reference Text lists the hidden dangers and risks of improper management that enterprises should focus on avoiding in the recruitment of workers, payment of labor remuneration, arrangement of overtime work, handling of resignation procedures and other operations. Provide reference for guiding employers to formulate and improve relevant rules and regulations or sign labor contracts and collective contracts with employees. It can effectively limit the formulation of rules and regulations by enterprises, and to a certain extent, it can solve the problem of "wonderful" management of employers.

The scope believes that the release of the Reference Text is of great significance in guiding employers to prevent and eliminate potential risks of improper management in the workplace, standardizing employment management, and further promoting the harmony and stability of labor relations. In particular, through administrative guidance, it has a certain role in promoting the establishment of the concept and system of compliance management for employers.

"However, the Reference Text can not fundamentally solve the problem of enterprises' excessive interference in employees' private lives. The reason is that the Reference Text, as an administrative guide, lacks the corresponding enforcement effect and the corresponding implementation mechanism of supervision and law enforcement. From the content of the Reference Text, it mainly regulates the improper management of the workplace." Scope said.

Then, how to establish the boundary of employers' management of workers from the perspective of institutional norms?

In terms of scope, from a practical point of view, the boundary of enterprises' standardized employment should be defined around "work", that is, the premise for employers to enjoy management rights over workers is based on work, and the management of workers' behavior should be limited to work related. For example, according to the Labor Contract Law, at the conclusion stage of the labor contract, the employee's obligation to inform is limited to "basic information directly related to the labor contract". Therefore, the employee's behavior unrelated to work should not be included in the scope of the employer's management power.

"In order to carry out normal production and operation activities, enterprises enjoy the right of employment management according to law; while workers enjoy the right of labor security according to law in order to protect their labor rights and interests from arbitrary infringement by employers. Since the employment management right of enterprises directly conflicts with the labor security right of workers, it is of great significance for both labor and management to correctly exercise their legitimate rights and interests to correctly divide the boundary between the two. " Yang Baoquan said.

In his opinion, according to the provisions of the Labor Law and the Labor Contract Law, employers should establish and improve labor rules and regulations in accordance with the law to ensure that workers enjoy labor rights and perform labor obligations. At the same time, when formulating, modifying or deciding on rules and regulations or major matters directly related to the immediate interests of workers, the employing unit shall follow the corresponding procedures. For example, it shall discuss with the workers' congress or all the workers, put forward plans and opinions, and negotiate with the trade union or workers' representatives on an equal basis.

"The above laws do not restrict or prohibit the employment management rights of enterprises, but only stipulate that enterprises should abide by the procedural provisions set by the Labor Contract Law when using the employment management rights." Yang Baoquan said that he comprehensively analyzed the legal provisions on labor protection and the company's enterprise management, as well as the enterprise's production and operation activities and employment management activities, The provisions of laws and administrative regulations must be observed, which is also the boundary of the enterprise's employment management power.

key word: Employment Company worker Administration