Laborer Rights Classroom

Original title: The employer maliciously increased the workload before dismissing the employee when the resignation was unsuccessful through negotiation. What about this?

This is a small class on the rights and interests of workers to teach legal knowledge and solve the concerns of workers.

In the workplace, people often hear complaints that "there is no end to work, there is no end to work"... Recently, the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing concluded a labor dispute case. After the employer failed to negotiate with the employee to leave, the employer maliciously increased the workload, and the employee refused the unreasonable workload assigned by the employer, The employer dismissed the employee for disobeying the work arrangement. In the end, the court held that the employer constituted the illegal termination of the labor contract, and decided that the employer should pay compensation to the worker. Let's take a look at this case.

Ms. Shen is a graphic designer in a technology company. According to her usual work arrangement, Ms. Shen should complete the design task of more than 40 drawings every workday. In the first ten days of November 2021, the company negotiated with Ms. Shen on layoff and severance compensation. After the negotiation failed, the company gradually increased Ms. Shen's workload and required to complete more than 70 design drawings every day. Ms. Shen said that this requirement was far beyond the normal workload and could not be completed at all.

At the end of the month, the company sent Ms. Shen the Notice of Cancellation of Labor Contract, saying that Ms. Shen had terminated the labor relationship with Ms. Shen because she did not obey the company's management, did not complete the tasks assigned by the company, etc.

After investigation, the court found that Ms. Shen and her colleagues had repeatedly raised objections to the increased unreasonable workload. Ms. Shen had also applied to reduce the workload, but no response was received. Ms. Shen's colleague testified in court, saying that the company failed to communicate with employees about layoffs, intended to let employees leave on their own, maliciously increased the workload, and after Ms. Shen left, the workload returned to normal. The court held that Ms. Shen had the right to refuse the unreasonable workload arrangement of a technology company.

Finally, a science and technology company was judged to pay Ms. Shen 63000 yuan of compensation for illegal termination of labor contract. Why does the court make such a decision? Let's hear what the judge says.

Zheng Jizhe, Judge of Beijing Third Intermediate People's Court:

The employing unit shall strictly implement the labor quota standards and shall not force or in disguised form force workers to work overtime. The Employer has the right to make employment decisions such as assigning work tasks to workers. Workers should actively cooperate with the Employer to complete the tasks and jobs assigned within a reasonable limit. However, when the workload assigned by the employer seriously exceeds the normal standard, which makes it impossible for the workers to complete the work within the normal working hours or even overtime, it can be considered that the reasonable limit has been exceeded. Workers have the right to refuse. A worker who refuses to accept the unreasonable work quota arrangement of the employer shall not be deemed as disobeying the work arrangement. It is illegal for the employer to terminate the labor contract on the ground that the employee does not obey the arrangement due to unreasonable workload setting.

That's all for this small class. See you next time.

Supervisor: Zhao Jielan Haiyan

Planner: Zhang Weijie

Writer: Zhou Qian

Host: Li Yimeng

Produced by: Bai Zhijie