[Editorial Review of Workers' Daily]

Original title: Clarify the right to offline rest, so that workers can work profitably and offline can be guaranteed

Worker's Daily - commentator of China Industrial Network Zhang Weijie

With the growing demand for the right to offline rest to be incorporated into the law, and with the increase in the number of judges in such cases and the public's continued concern about the issue of invisible overtime, how to clarify the boundary between online work and online overtime, how to divide the boundary between the normal management right and infringement of employers, how to protect the right to rest of workers without affecting the normal production and operation of enterprises, Many problems will be more fully demonstrated in theory and practice.

"Online 24 hours a day, emails must be replied in time" "Mobile phones keep ringing after work"... This is a series of reports recently launched by the Workers' Daily, "Can I go offline after 8 hours?", in which some workers experience "rest without rest" in reality. In order to curb such hidden overtime, some experts suggested that offline rest rights should be introduced at the level of labor legislation.

With the rapid development of mobile Internet and the emergence of instant messaging tools, online office has become a common way of work in many industries and fields, and correspondingly, there have also been phenomena that damage the right to rest of workers, such as "staying on the job" and "moving to another place after work". For example, some workers still have to use WeChat to process work after work and on holidays; Some workers have to deal with several or even dozens of working groups at any time. If they do not check and reply to the information in the group in time during break time, they will be criticized at least, and fined at most; Some workers' circle of friends has also become a "secret corner" of overtime work, "the company allows the circle of friends to be issued every day", "no return and deduction of money", and so on.

Some scholars have proposed that in the information age, workers have changed their working methods, and the labor market has blurred the boundaries between work and private life, so the legislative department needs to improve the relevant systems to protect workers' rights and interests to rest in a timely manner. In this context, the offline rest right is proposed to ensure the workers' rest and vacation under the new technology and environment. The right to offline rest means that workers have the right to refuse to contact or deal with work matters through digital tools outside the statutory or agreed working hours, and shall not be adversely treated.

The realization of the right to offline rest can effectively avoid the impact of overwork and work pressure on the physical and mental health of workers, thus improving the quality of life and productivity of workers. In this sense, the right to offline rest is a worker's right that can make both parties in labor relations win.

Although from the legislative level, the right to offline rest is still in the stage of suggestion and discussion, in judicial practice, many cases have become "boosters" for the implementation of the right to offline rest, the most typical of which is the first "invisible overtime case" in China. Ms. Li, the party of the case, has long needed to work online after work using social software such as WeChat, which is typical of invisible overtime. That is, using social media to work during off work hours and rest days has gone beyond the scope of simple communication. The work content is cyclical and fixed, which is different from temporary and occasional general communication, It reflects the characteristics of employing units in managing employment. Because of these characteristics, the case was determined by the court to constitute overtime, and the court finally decided that the company should pay Ms. Li 30000 yuan for overtime.

The judgment of this case broke through the traditional mode of overtime identification, creatively proposed the principle of "providing substantive work" and the principle of "taking up time obviously" as the identification criteria for "invisible overtime", filled the legal gap, guaranteed the "offline right" of workers, and provided reference for similar cases to be handled by all regions in the future, It also signals to the public that workers' offline rest rights can be regulated by laws and regulations.

It is worth noting that the offline rest right should include two aspects: first, workers have the right to refuse work arrangements and enjoy the right to rest outside working hours; The second is that workers should receive corresponding remuneration after working online. At present, the latter is easier to implement and more concerned by workers, that is, employers should pay workers for online overtime work during break time.

The focus of such labor dispute appeals is mostly the recognition of the fact of overtime, which also confirms that both labor relations parties are very concerned about the issue of overtime payment for online work beyond 8 hours. Therefore, some insiders proposed that on the basis of setting up the system framework of offline rest right, we should face up to the differences between different employers, give employers and workers free space for negotiation, and ensure the normal operation and operation of employers.

For many workers, it is often not against overtime, but against "free overtime". How to balance the protection of workers' rights and interests with the needs of enterprise operation and development is the core issue to be solved for offline rest rights.

With the growing demand for the right to offline rest to be incorporated into the law, and with the increase in the number of judges in such cases and the public's continued concern about the issue of invisible overtime, how to clarify the boundary between online work and online overtime, how to divide the boundary between the normal management right and infringement of employers, how to protect the right to rest of workers without affecting the normal production and operation of enterprises, Many problems will be more fully demonstrated in theory and practice.

We look forward to the early implementation of the provisions on the right to offline rest, so that workers can work profitably online and have secure offline rest, reduce and curb the illegal overtime arrangements of employers, help workers out of the dilemma of "rest without rest", and promote the harmonious and healthy development of labor relations.