Original title: Beijing Shunyi Court issued the legal risk prevention guidelines for labor employment damage liability (quotation)

If the project is subcontracted to unqualified subjects, who is responsible for the industrial injury? Subject

Worker's Daily - Zhang Weijie, reporter of China Industrial Network

If the project is subcontracted to an unqualified entity, does the subcontractor have to bear the liability for compensation in case of work-related injury? On March 27, the People's Court of Shunyi District of Beijing held a press conference to focus on the hot issues in the field of labor employment, released four relevant typical cases, and released the Guidelines on Legal Risk Prevention of Liability for Damage in the Field of Labor Employment to the public.

Who should compensate workers for injuries after subcontracting

Among the four cases, there was one case of "subcontracting the project to an unqualified subject, and the subcontractor should bear joint and several liability for compensation". After contracting the internal decoration and reconstruction project of a hotel in Tianjin, Company A subcontracted the project to Company B without decoration qualification. Company B signed a subcontracting agreement with Company C to subcontract some hydropower projects to Company C. On the same day, Company C signed a contract with unqualified Liu to subcontract the hydropower project. Liu hired Wei to work on water and electricity installation at the construction site.

During the construction of the top surface of the third floor, no one fell to the ground and was injured. He was diagnosed as a fracture of the femur and radius, which cost some medical expenses. Weimou sued the above three companies and Liu to the court to request each defendant to jointly compensate for their own losses, and the subsequent treatment fee was claimed separately.

The court found that Weimou was directly employed by Liu, and there was a labor relationship between the two. Because Liu failed to provide safe production conditions and fulfill his employment safety management obligations, he should bear fault liability for Weimou's losses according to the size of his fault.

Joint and several liability shall be borne if the qualification is not reviewed

Company A, as the general contractor of the project involved, subcontracts the project to Company B without decoration qualification, and shall bear joint and several liability for compensation.

After investigation, Company B never made project connection, project settlement and other matters with Company C, but directly paid the project funds to Mr. Liu. Therefore, the court held that Mr. Liu signed subcontracting agreements with Company B and himself in the name of Company C, so the court held that Company B and Mr. Liu formed a substantial subcontracting legal relationship. In this process, Party B knows that Liu, as an individual, lacks construction qualification and safe production conditions, but still forms a subcontracting legal relationship with him. Therefore, Party B has obvious faults in this regard, and should bear joint and several liability with Liu for his reasonable losses.

In the same way, Company C agreed to sign a contract in the name of Mr. Liu, but there was also an obvious fault. It should bear joint and several liability with Mr. Liu and Company B.

In the end, the court decided that Mr. Liu should bear the corresponding compensation liability according to his fault, and that Company A, Company B and Company C should bear joint and several liability within the scope of Mr. Liu's liability.

The typical significance of this case is that the construction field of construction projects involves many dangerous operations. In order to facilitate management, the unit undertaking construction projects should have construction qualification. When the construction unit subcontracts, it must also review the contractor's construction qualification. At the same time, due to the lack of conditions to ensure safe production, and the difficulty to bear the risk of project quality problems and related responsibilities related to project personal safety, individuals do not have construction qualification for construction projects.

The court reminded that if the construction unit fails to review whether the contractor has the corresponding qualifications when subcontracting, and if the labor provider is injured or killed in the subsequent construction process, it may assume joint and several liability for compensation. In addition, even in the field of non construction project construction, the labor demander, as the orderer, has a contractual legal relationship with the provider of labor services. If the orderer has a selection fault, that is, if it has selected a contractor that does not have the corresponding professional and technical capabilities and safe construction conditions, the orderer may also bear the corresponding liability for compensation due to its fault.

Who is responsible for labor employment

It is reported that there is only one word difference between labor relations and labor relations, but there are huge differences between the two legal relations in terms of rights and obligations. In labor relations, the industrial injury insurance system provides a "protective umbrella" for both parties in labor relations. However, in the labor relationship, once the labor provider is injured or killed in the process of providing labor services, who will bear the responsibility is often prone to disputes and lawsuits.

From January 2020 to December 2023, Shunyi Court concluded a total of 544 cases related to victims of labor service providers in the field of labor employment. Among them, nearly 90% of the cases involve clarifying the legal relationship, accurately identifying the subject of compensation liability, and accurately dividing the responsibilities of each subject. In such cases, the parties to the case have large disputes and the average time to conclude is long.

Hu Bo, the president of Niulanshan Court of Shunyi Court, said that the cases of damage liability disputes in the field of labor employment have two main characteristics: first, the contract was incomplete when hiring, and the relevant responsibility subjects shifted responsibility to each other; The second is to pursue low cost and flexible employment, and the recipient of labor neglects the obligation of safety guarantee. According to the data, nearly 60% of the labor service providers in such cases heard by Shunyi Court were injured due to damage to facilities or carelessly falling from a height.

For this reason, the Institute, on the basis of refining and summarizing the thinking of typical case review, produced and issued the Guidelines for Legal Risk Prevention of Damage Liability in the Field of Labor Employment, providing reference for both parties in the field of labor employment, reminding all parties to clarify their responsibilities and jointly maintain a safe employment environment.

Sun Shuhua, judge of Niulanshan Court of Shunyi Court, reminded the labor service providers that "the labor service providers themselves have certain duty of care in the process of providing labor services. They should strictly abide by the relevant rules and regulations in the process of work, implement various labor services with a cautious attitude, make safety a working method and good habit, and complete each task safely and smoothly."