Wen/Leju Finance Lin Zhenxing

There are many wonderful things in the real estate circle.

Recently, a real estate agent told about his bad worry, saying that the real estate company in which he was involved in an accident asked executives to return their bonuses for the previous three years, whether they were on the job or quitting.

This event caused quite a stir in the circle. In fact, not only the thundering enterprises, but also the property developers of central enterprises have similar situations, even pointing to the ordinary employees who have left their jobs.

A story about Mr. Lu has been turned over. He is 48 years old and used to be CSCEC Zhidi An employee of the investment and development business was sued twice by the company after leaving the company, because he returned an investment expansion award Jin He interest.

The time goes back eight years. On January 14, 2016, the parent company of CSCEC Zhidi, China Construction First Bureau, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the government of Hechuan District, Chongqing. The two sides will cooperate in the construction of the Weituo Comprehensive Logistics Industrial Park project in the PPP mode. On the same day, Ren Chuanbin, then Chairman of the Real Estate Company of China Construction First Engineering Bureau Group (renamed "CSCEC Zhidi" in June 2020), appeared at the signing ceremony.

At the end of that year, in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of all employees for investment and development, CSCEC Zhidi issued the management measures for investment and development rewards of urban comprehensive construction business, and paid development funds to the core development team members.

In February 2017, China Construction First Engineering Bureau won the bid for the PPP project of Chongqing Weituo Integrated Logistics Industrial Park. The project is the first logistics industrial park PPP project invested and constructed by China Construction First Engineering Bureau, The total investment is about 9 billion yuan, The project contract was signed on December 5 of that year.

In accordance with the reward management method, CSCEC Zhidi has issued expansion awards to some employees, among which Mr. Lu received The expansion award is 30000 yuan (24154.17 yuan after tax).

Surprisingly, CSCEC Zhidi received the letter of termination of the project on December 28, 2018. From October to November 2019, CSCEC Zhidi sent a short message to Mr. Lu, asking him to return 24154.17 yuan of the investment expansion award for the PPP project of Chongqing Weituo Integrated Logistics Industrial Park before November 15, 2019.

Mr. Lu did not agree with this. He said that he left his job on May 31, 2018 for personal reasons. "The sending time of the SMS content was not shown, and his mobile phone number was changed for many years, which could not be verified."

On December 10, 2021, the PPP project of Chongqing Weituo Integrated Logistics Industrial Park won by China Construction First Engineering Bureau officially ended.

September 20, 2022, CSCEC wisdom The local government applied to Beijing Fangshan District Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Commission for arbitration and asked Mr. Lu to return 24154.17 yuan of investment expansion bonus. On the same day, the Commission issued JFLRZBZ (2022) No. 493 Notice of Rejection on the ground that the applicant's arbitration request exceeded the time limit for arbitration application.

Therefore, CSCEC Zhidi filed a lawsuit with the People's Court of Fangshan District, Beijing: Mr. Lu returned the CSCEC Zhidi investment expansion bonus of 24154.17 yuan and paid interest to CSCEC Zhidi (based on 24154.17 yuan, calculated from November 15, 2019 to the date of repayment according to the interbank offered rate).

CSCEC Zhidi believes that the investment expansion award is the accrued project profit. That is, the bonus is an advance bonus for employees. As the project failed to enter the implementation stage, CSCEID failed to profit from the project. According to the principle of fairness, employees should also return this part of the advance bonus.

Mr. Lu argued that the contract involved in the case was signed and ended on December 10, 2021. The period lasted four years. During this period, the contract was always being performed, not without progress. The reward measures issued in 2016 were always in effect, and had effect on the company and employees. However, China Construction Intelli had no binding force on China Construction Intelli by virtue of the documents of its parent company rather than its internal rules and regulations, Moreover, he has already left his post, and the documents issued later have no retroactive effect on the bonus incurred before.

The court held that China Construction Intelligent Land claimed that Mr. Lu should return his bonus for investment expansion, but did not submit sufficient evidence to prove the legality, rationality and legitimacy of his bonus return. In the end, the court ruled that it did not support the lawsuit request of CSCEC Zhidi for Mr. Lu to return the investment expansion bonus of 24154.17 yuan, nor did it support the lawsuit request for interest payment.

China Construction Zhidi did not agree with the verdict of the first instance and appealed to the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court. The court of second instance still ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment after fully hearing the original case.

Mr. Lu's experience is not an exception. For example, CSCEC wisdom Di also asked Ms. Li and Mr. Liu, former employees, to return 15520 yuan and 18067.39 yuan of investment and development awards respectively.

When the real estate is booming, in addition to the fixed annual salary, the real estate employees can also obtain high remuneration through bonuses and welfare benefits; At present, the real estate industry has entered a downward phase, and many real estate developers have not only been cut their salaries, but also failed to get the year-end bonus, and even been chased by the company to "beg for money".

In addition to CSCEC Zhidi, many developers have also claimed bonuses from employees in recent years. A real estate executive once disclosed to the media that "some enterprises require that the bonuses of the previous years should be returned to the company, and the heads of regional and group departments are the focus, all of them are vice president level. Because the annual salary is prepaid, and the bonus is paid after the project settlement, many projects have not yet been liquidated, so the bonus paid is prepaid."

CSCEC Zhidi is a real estate dark horse under CSCEC Group, a state-owned enterprise. In just two or three years, it has won many plots in Tongzhou, Fangshan, Shunyi, Chaoyang and so on. In addition to seizing the market in Beijing, it has also deeply cultivated the market in Jiangsu and settled in Guangzhou, Shanghai and other places.

In the past six months, CSCEC wisdom Two grand press conferences were held at the Water Cube, inviting Chen Jianbin, Pu Cunxin and other star platforms to create a brand of cultural real estate.  

CSCEC Zhidi is the unified operation platform for the real estate business of CSCEC First Engineering Bureau. In recent years, China Construction First Engineering Bureau is constantly increasing the proportion of real estate development. In 2020, this business accounted for only 1.11% of the total revenue, which will increase to 4.49% in 2021 and 7.8% in 2022. Recently, China Construction First Engineering Bureau released its annual report for 2023. The real estate development and investment business achieved a revenue of 14.212 billion yuan, accounting for 9.38% of the total revenue.

According to the report of a third-party research institution, CSCEC Zhidi ranked 65th in the list of Chinese real estate enterprises with a sales amount of 16.87 billion yuan in 2023, more than 30 places ahead of 12.19 billion yuan and 98th place in 2022.  

Although China Construction First Engineering Bureau has paid more attention to real estate development and investment business Income increase without profit increase, debt increase Phenomenon of:

1、 The revenue increased from 11.678 billion yuan to 14.212 billion yuan, but the net profit decreased from 1.757 billion yuan in 2022 to 1.37 billion yuan in 2023, and the gross profit margin decreased from 22.44% in 2022 to 18.74%; 2、 Total liabilities climbed from 29.949 billion yuan in 2022 to 31.328 billion yuan in 2023, The debt ratio climbed from 78.2% to 81.5%.

In the process of real estate enterprises' pursuit of scale, it is a normal phenomenon that the debt ratio rises, but for state-owned enterprises' real estate developers, it is rare that the debt ratio exceeds 80%. As the leader of CSCEC First Engineering Bureau Wu Aiguo and the leader of CSCEC Zhidi Fan Feijun, they need to find a balance between scale and high-quality development.