The briefing was presided over by Tian Gang, spokesman and deputy director of the Political Department
Good faith is an important principle of labor law. Due to the unique subordination and continuity of labor relations, the dishonesty of either the employee or the employer will affect the healthy development of the workplace environment, the construction of harmonious labor relations, and the high-quality development of the economy and society. On April 30, on the eve of the "May Day", the Shunyi Court held a press briefing on "Going to the Covenant of Honesty and Trustworthiness to Build Harmonious Labor Relations" to inform the public of the trial and characteristics of labor dispute cases involving dishonest acts, release typical cases and put forward court suggestions, so as to protect the legitimate rights and interests of both labor and management in accordance with the law, and contribute to the strengthening of the governance of labor dispute litigation sources.
According to Chen Ying, president of the First Civil Division of the Shunyi Court, from 2019 to 2023, the court heard a total of 1,228 labor dispute cases involving dishonest behavior, and the number of cases continued to remain high and showed a fluctuating growth trend. Among them, there were 998 cases of violation of the principle of good faith by employers, and 230 cases of violation of the principle of good faith by employees. Chen Ying pointed out that the dishonesty of labor relations entities has become one of the main reasons for the frequent and frequent occurrence of labor disputes.
According to the analysis of the Shunyi court, the employee's violations of the principle of good faith are mainly manifested in the following ways: providing false employment information, violating the service period agreement, violating the principle of non-competition, not returning to work without a legitimate reason after the expiration of the medical treatment period and the period of suspension of work with pay, abnormal attendance, lazy work style during work, stealing the official seal of the employer, and intending to obtain improper benefits. The dishonest behavior of the employer is prominently manifested in the following ways: signing a blank contract with the employee, filling in information at will, arbitrarily adjusting the job position and work location, lowering the wage standard, stating "no more disputes" in the unilaterally issued resignation certificate, evading payment of outstanding payments, and falsifying salary and attendance sheets after a dispute occurs.
Focusing on the dishonesty of employers and employees, Li Xiuwen, vice president of the First Civil Division of the Shunyi Court, released five typical cases. In a case caused by a "non-disputed" resignation certificate, in order to join the new company as soon as possible, Mr. Li signed a "Certificate of Termination of Labor Contract" with a certain company, which stated: "The two parties have all settled their salaries, vacations, various benefits and other various matters, and there is no dispute between the two parties." At the end of the year, Li found that a company had not paid his performance salary for the previous year in accordance with the usual practice, so he sued the court. After trial, the Shunyi court held that the Certificate of Termination of Labor Contract is a certificate issued by the employer for the employee regarding the working period, and should only contain the basic information on the performance of the labor contract. In order to smoothly leave the job, the employee's signature on the "non-disputed" resignation certificate does not mean that the employee has the intention to dispose of or waive the corresponding labor rights and interests. In the end, the Shunyi court ruled that the company should pay Li a performance salary. Li Xiuwen pointed out that when an employer terminates an employment relationship with an employee, the employer should fulfill its obligation to pay if the two parties have not yet settled the wages and other payments and have not reached an agreement, instead of making unilateral documents to evade liability.
In addition, the Shunyi court also reminded employers that they should clarify specific requirements when publishing recruitment information, clearly agree on the work location, job position and salary standard when signing the labor contract with the employee, and reach an agreement with the employee through consultation when subsequently adjusting the employee's work location, job position and wage standard, respond to the employee's demands in a timely manner, and properly resolve the disputes between the two parties.
In another case, during the existence of the employment relationship with Company A, Mr. Liu established Company B in the name of his mother with a similar business scope to Company A, and used his position to sign a purchase and sale contract with Company A's customers to earn benefits. Later, Company A terminated the labor contract with Liu on the grounds of serious dereliction of duty, malpractice, and serious violation of rules and regulations. Mr. Liu sued Company A to the court, claiming compensation for the illegal termination of the labor contract, and Company A filed a counterclaim in the process. After the trial, the Shunyi court held that Liu, who had established and served as a shareholder of a competing enterprise with the same business during his tenure in Company A, had taken advantage of his position to damage the rights and interests of Company A, seriously violated professional ethics, duty of loyalty and non-competition, and violated the provisions of the labor contract between the two parties, and that it was not improper for the company to terminate the labor contract. In the end, the Shunyi court rejected Liu's claim and ordered Liu to compensate Company A for its losses.
The Shunyi court suggested that the majority of workers should insist on seeking truth from facts, truthfully inform basic information, consciously abide by labor discipline and professional ethics at work, abide by the agreement between the two parties on non-competition, fulfill the duty of loyalty, and strive to achieve the common development of the enterprise and the individual.
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Contributed by: Shunyi Court
Editor: Lu Xiaowei and Xiao Fei
Review: Zhang Lei