Reporter Wang Wei reported that the Chinese Football Association issued a notice on April 3, announcing the list of clubs admitted to the three-tier league for the 2022 season, and at the same time releasing the solution of the club's salary arrears and related penalties. The three time nodes for resolving unpaid wages give clubs a grace period to resolve unpaid wages. Since this provision was promulgated, it has been questioned a lot, and it has been called "unpaid wage access" by public opinion, and there are many concerns about the sequelae brought about by this move. Sure enough, the dispute over the grace period for unpaid wages was raised in the case of U23 national team goalkeeper Qi Yuxi v. Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club in the case of the Arbitration Committee of the Chinese Football Association on April 26.
Born on November 21, 2000, Qi Yuxi is now under the age of 22 and is currently a goalkeeper for the U23 national team. Before joining Heilongjiang Bingcheng in January 2021, Qi Yuxi played for Jiangsu Suning, where he was selected for the national junior team and the U20 national team many times, and just represented the U23 national team in the "Dubai Cup" competition, and will be an important member of the U23 national team participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
At the hearing of the Arbitration Commission of the Chinese Football Association on April 26, Qi Yuxi submitted a request for arbitration to the Arbitration Commission. He signed a working contract with Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club in January 2021. So far, Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club has defaulted on its 6 months' salary in 2021 and 2 months' salary in 2022, for a total of 8 months' wages. Qi Yuxi demanded the termination of the work contract with Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club and asked the Football Association to issue a free certificate.
Qi Yuxi's reasoning is that as of April 13, 2022, Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club owed him a total of 8 months' wages for 6 months in 2021 and 2 months' wages in 2022. According to the relevant FIFA documents, "if the player fails to pay the player's salary for at least two months at the club, the player will be deemed to have a valid reason to terminate the contract".
Moreover, Qi Yuxi notified the legal representative of Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club in writing in the form of a WeChat reminder letter on March 29 and sent it to the club's mailbox. As of April 13, more than 15 days have passed, and Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club has paid back the arrears of wages.
Qi Yuxi believes that the salary arrears of Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club have already exceeded the time limit set by FIFA for two months of arrears of athletes' wages, and after that, Qi Yuxi also sent a written notice to the club requesting that all wage arrears be paid within 15 days in accordance with FIFA regulations. As soon as 15 days passed, Qi Yuxi immediately filed an arbitration, demanding the termination of the work contract with Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club and the issuance of a free body certificate.
In the face of Qi Yuxi's application for freedom of arbitration, the representative of Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club held at the hearing that the applicant Qi Yuxi's arbitration request should be rejected, and put forward several reasons.
First of all, Heilongjiang Bingcheng failed to make up the arrears of wages before April 12 (that is, within 15 days after receiving the player's notice) because of the force majeure caused by the epidemic, in the process, Heilongjiang Bingcheng has made every effort and is still unable to complete the payment within 15 days after the player notifies the dunning.
The force majeure mentioned by the Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club was due to factors such as the relevant epidemic lockdown and express delivery suspension, and after the above force majeure situation was eliminated, Heilongjiang Bingcheng paid all the arrears to Qi Yuxi on April 22. That is to say, Heilongjiang Bingcheng failed to make up the arrears of wages within 15 days, but postponed 9 days to make up for the arrears of wages.
Next, in the arbitral hearing of Qi Yuxi v. Heilongjiang Bingcheng, a funny thing appeared, and the agent of Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club officially raised the new problem caused by the Football Association's permission to allow clubs to enter the unpaid wages. "On April 3, the Football Association issued a notice giving clubs a grace period to resolve their wage arrears, and the clubs followed the time node of the article to settle the arrears of wages, but were terminated by the players, should this notice also bear certain responsibility?"
Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club believes that Qi Yuxi notified the club on March 28 to collect the arrears of wages, and the club received a notice from the Football Association on April 3, giving the club a grace period to resolve the arrears of wages. "In the understanding of ordinary people or the normal understanding of the club, since the Football Association has given the club a grace period to solve the arrears of wages, the club has the right to settle the arrears according to the time node in the grace period."
Therefore, Heilongjiang Bingcheng believes that if a player can still terminate the contract through arbitration and obtain free reins on wage arrears, the FA should also bear the responsibility of misleading the club in this notice, because the notice gives the club a grace period to resolve the wage arrears, but does not prompt the club to settle the wage arrears according to the grace period and may face major risks and major losses from the player's arbitration. Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club hopes that in the process of adjudicating the case, the arbitration commission should consider the provisions of the notice and postpone the time node of the termination of the unpaid wages accordingly.
In the course of the trial, Heilongjiang Bingcheng expressed its willingness to continue to perform the contract with Qi Yuxi and give him sufficient space for development, and if he wanted to transfer, he could handle the transfer for him by collecting a reasonable transfer fee.
At this trial, both parties expressed their willingness to mediate in court, but in the end, because the gap between the mediation plans between the two parties was too large, the mediation in court was not successful, and finally handed over the adjudication power to the Arbitration Commission.
Obviously, the ultimate conundrum is pushed onto the arbitration commission. On the one hand, the Football Association allows clubs to enter the salary arrears and forgave the payment of wage arrears, and on the other hand, the arbitration committee has to face the problem of player arbitration caused by the club's salary arrears.
Originally, according to FIFA regulations, players who were owed salaries for two months and did not pay off the arrears within 15 days of written notice to the club would become free, but now they have become self-adhesives within the association.
It is reported that the Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club just completed the equity change in March this year, the original investor withdrew, and the new investor just took over. Once Qi Yuxi is free, then the new investors are bound to suffer economic losses, and if the Heilongjiang Bingcheng Club finally withdraws from the league, then the embarrassment will be the Football Association.
In fact, as Han Feizi wrote in "Self-Contradiction": "'How about trapping the shield of a son with the spear of the son?'" Its man Ferns should also. The shield of the impenetrable and the spear of the impregnable shall not stand together in the same world. ”
These are the truths that elementary school students should understand.