What would you do if you suddenly received a call from your boss asking you to work overtime during your weekend break?
Not long ago, Ms. Liu from Chongqing was resting at home on the weekend when she suddenly received a call from the company asking her to work overtime. Ms. Liu was dissatisfied and posted a circle of friends, saying "I have a rest on Saturday and Sunday, so you don't need to call me." And it was because of this circle of friends that Ms. Liu was fired by the company. What's going on?
Posted on Moments and was fired for refusing to work overtime
Ms. Liu, an employee of an education and training company in Chongqing, suddenly received a call from the company's leaders one Friday night, asking her to connect with customers immediately, and Ms. Liu thought that she had already negotiated with customers before, and there was no need to take up her weekend break to do work.
Ms. Liu said that she was a little emotionally unstable at that time, and then posted a message in the circle of friends, "Leaders, I don't go to work on Saturdays and Sundays, if there is anything, you can leave a message at that time."
After posting this circle of friends, Ms. Liu soon received a call from the company's leader, "The leader told me that you won't use it next Monday." ”
Two days later, Ms. Liu received a notice from the company that she would terminate the employment contract with Ms. Liu because the remarks she posted on Moments violated the company's rules and regulations, affected the team atmosphere, damaged the company's image, and had a serious negative impact on the company.
Ms. Liu: Later, when I calmed down, I felt that I was indeed a little impulsive to send this message at that time, but from the perspective of the staff, even if this happens, I will not be directly fired.
After Ms. Liu communicated with the company, she demanded compensation in accordance with the employment contract, but the company believed that Ms. Liu was at fault and rejected her request. After a local labor arbitration and mediation failed, Ms. Liu sued the company in court and demanded that the company pay compensation.
The court ruled in the first instance that the company should pay more than 49,000 yuan in compensation
Lin Baozhen, Vice President of the Third Civil Division of the Jiulongpo District People's Court of Chongqing Municipality: The employer's exercise of the right of termination is a very severe punishment. The Labor Contract Law also imposes strict restrictions on the employer's exercise of the right of unilateral termination, and the rules and regulations based on which they are based must be formulated in accordance with the law, and notified or publicized through democratic procedures, and the employees must be organized to study. The employee's behavior must reach the level of a serious violation of the rules and regulations before the dismissal can be made.
After trial, the court held that although Ms. Liu's conduct was improper, it could not be seen that it had caused a serious impact on the company, and did not reach the level of passive sabotage, dereliction of duty, and disobedience to management and work arrangements.
Lin Baozhen: Liu's behavior in this case is not only not conducive to resolving the conflict, but may lead to new disputes, which is not advocated. Judging from the content of Liu's circle of friends, her behavior did not reach the level of serious violations of rules and regulations. The company argued that its rules and regulations were made by the company's management and did not demonstrate a basis for being made through democratic procedures. In summary, the court held that the termination of the employment contract on this basis lacked factual and legal basis and constituted illegal termination.
In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Labor Contract Law, the court finally ruled that the defendant company should pay the plaintiff, Ms. Liu, more than RMB 49,000 in compensation for illegally terminating the labor contract. After the first-instance judgment, neither party appealed, and the judgment has taken legal effect. Due to the company's failure to fulfill its payment obligations, Ms. Liu has applied to the court for compulsory enforcement.
The judge said that with the rapid development of the economy, how to balance the pursuit of the employment management right of enterprises and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of workers has put forward higher requirements for modern enterprises.
Lin Baozhen: As a worker, we must express our demands in a reasonable way and protect our rights through legal channels. As an employer, it should also reasonably exercise its own employment management rights in order to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the enterprise.
Overtime is an inevitable situation for every employee, and it is also the obligation of the employer to give corresponding remuneration or compensation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Labor Law. In this case, although Ms. Liu's way of posting on Moments to express that she did not want to work overtime was inappropriate, the court's judgment also reminded the employer that when formulating rules and regulations, it must pay attention to the legality and democracy of the procedures, and at the same time, it should also strengthen the humanistic care for employees.
Source: CCTV, "Rule of Law Online"
Edited by Tingting Hong