Original title: The anchor stops broadcasting without reason and is sued by the media company for compensation (subject)
Court: The contract signed by both parties is a cooperative relationship, and the defaulter shall bear the responsibility (subtitle)
People's Court News (reporter Wu Qi, correspondent Yang Mingxin) The webmaster is a new career with the development of the Internet live broadcasting industry. The webmaster stopped broadcasting without the consent of the media company. Is it absenteeism or breach of contract? A few days ago, the People's Court of Pubei County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, heard a case of dispute over a live broadcast network contract. According to the law, if the webmaster who stopped broadcasting without proper reasons broke the contract, he should pay liquidated damages to the media company.
On October 25, 2022, Xiaoying signed an agreement with a media company to sign an anchor contract. The two parties agreed that Xiaoying would voluntarily accept the work arrangement of a media company, with no less than 26 live broadcast days per month and no less than 6 hours per day; If Xiaoying continuously violates the live broadcast duration agreement for reasonable reasons other than force majeure, she shall pay a penalty of 1000 yuan to a media company for each hour of missing broadcast of the total duration of the month, and 2000 yuan to a media company for each day of missing broadcast.
After the agreement was signed, Xiaoying carried out relevant live broadcast activities according to the agreement. On April 12, 2023, Xiao Ying asked for leave for 3 days on the grounds of illness, and then with the consent of a media company, the leave period was postponed to April 21, 2023. On April 22, 2023, Xiaoying will broadcast live. The next day, Xiaoying applied for salary advance on the ground that she needed to be hospitalized due to a recurrence of disease, but she did not show the relevant medical records, and without the consent of a media company, she continued to stop broadcasting for 20 days without justified reasons. A media company asked Xiaoying to pay liquidated damages on the ground of breach of contract. After repeatedly being rejected by Xiaoying, it sued to the court and asked Xiaoying to pay liquidated damages for 26 days of suspension from April 12 to May 12, 2023, totaling 52000 yuan.
After hearing the case, the court held that to determine whether Xiaoying should pay liquidated damages, it was first necessary to determine whether Xiaoying had a labor relationship or a cooperative relationship with a media company. According to the anchor signing agreement, both parties clearly agreed that the agreement is based on the brokerage contract relationship signed voluntarily by equal subjects, not a labor contract relationship or a labor contract relationship. Although the agreement specifically stipulates the cooperation content, income distribution, management method and liability for breach of contract of both parties, it does not conform to the identification standards of labor relations. The management of Xiaoying by a media company has no personal affiliation and is not a management act in the sense of labor law. Xiaoying's live broadcast behavior is based on an equal and cooperative relationship, which does not belong to the performance of duties for a media company. The live broadcast income obtained does not belong to the labor remuneration with economic subordination in the sense of labor law, but is distributed according to the proportion agreed by both parties, such as fans' rewards. Therefore, the anchor signing agreement signed by both parties does not conform to the legal characteristics of the labor contract, nor does it constitute a labor relationship, but a cooperative relationship.
As for whether a media company has the right to require Xiaoying to pay liquidated damages, the court held that the agreement signed by the anchor is the true intention of both parties, does not violate the mandatory provisions of the law, is legal and effective, and both parties should abide by it. Xiaoying asked for 3 days' leave on the grounds of illness, and then postponed the leave with the consent of a media company. Failure to broadcast live from April 12 to 21, 2023 would not violate the agreement, and she would not bear the corresponding civil liability. However, from April 23 to May 12, 2023, Xiaoying claimed that she needed to be hospitalized due to a recurrence of the disease, but she did not show the relevant hospital admission certificate and did not go through the leave procedures. Without the consent of a media company, she failed to broadcast the live broadcast on time and in full as agreed in the agreement without justified reasons, and was suspended for 20 days. Her behavior was that she stopped the broadcast without reason, violated the agreement, and would be liable for breach of contract.
After calculation, the daily average income of Xiaoying's live broadcast is 2034.86 yuan, which is not much different from the amount of liquidated damages of 2000 yuan that Xiaoying should pay to a media company for one less day of live broadcast per month as agreed in the agreement. Therefore, the court upheld the request of a media company to calculate liquidated damages according to the agreement.
To sum up, Xiaoying failed to fully perform her obligations as agreed and should bear civil liability for paying liquidated damages. The court ruled that Xiaoying should pay a penalty of 40000 yuan to a media company for stopping broadcasting for 20 days without reason. Xiaoying appealed against the judgment of first instance, and Qinzhou Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
The judge said
In recent years, with the rapid development of new business forms such as online live broadcasting, new employment groups such as online anchors have become larger and larger, and disputes between online anchors and media companies and live broadcasting platforms have occurred from time to time. For media companies or live broadcast platforms, it is not advisable to "hold" the webmasters by agreeing on high liquidated damages, which is not conducive to building a standardized and orderly live broadcast environment and industry atmosphere. In practice, the people's court will generally adjust the amount of liquidated damages according to the performance of the contract, the degree of fault of the parties, the company's investment in the development of the anchor, the anchor's live broadcast income and other contents, as well as the principles of fairness and integrity, taking into account the losses caused by the breach of contract by one of the parties, as appropriate.
When signing a contract with a media company or a live broadcast platform, the webmaster should carefully review the terms of rights and obligations, carefully consider his own performance ability and affordability, especially pay attention to the terms of liability for breach of contract, understand the legal liability that should be borne after the breach of contract, and avoid blind signing. After the contract is signed, the webmaster should follow the principle of good faith, abide by the spirit of the contract, fully perform his obligations according to the contract, and avoid unnecessary losses due to breach of contract.
