China People's Social Media reporter Li Na
The number of graduates from ordinary colleges and universities in the country in 2024 is expected to reach 11.79 million, an increase of 210,000 year-on-year.
It is the employment season for college graduates, but compared with previous years, the mood of this year's graduates has become more complicated. Since the beginning of this year, the situation of "the tripartite agreement of fresh graduates has been terminated" has appeared in the public eye from time to time, disrupting the employment planning of college students who have just entered the society from the ivory tower, and also making the spring recruitment that is about to come to an end more intense. These fresh graduates who have been broken contracts and laid off employees have to rethink their future direction, and their gradually clear life plans have begun to become confused again.
What does the broken contract mean to the graduates? The reporter conducted an interview.
Before graduating from school, he was "optimized" by the company first
In late March this year, Qin Wen, a fresh master's student from a double-first-class university in South China, successfully got an offer from a state-owned enterprise in Guangzhou.
"After receiving the offer, I thought I would be able to graduate with peace of mind." Qin Wen said frankly that because the company had issued a letter of proposed employment, it was invited to participate in the company's proposed employment visit on April 10. At that time, Qin Wen had several offers on hand, and after a comprehensive comparison, he chose the company, and other job opportunities were abandoned one after another.
Unexpectedly, a week later, he received a call from the company's HR, proposing to withdraw the employment notice, "probably sorry for the company's difficult decision." The reason given for repudiation was that the internal audit process had not passed. At that moment, Qin Wen panicked. He had seen someone post a similar experience on social media, but he didn't expect it to happen to him.
Qin Wen told reporters that he was a business administration major and applied for the company's human resource management position. At that time, he saw that this municipal state-owned enterprise was relatively stable, and he also wanted to stay in Guangzhou for development, so he refused the offers of other companies without hesitation.
"To be honest, I am very unwilling, and corporate recruitment is like child's play." In the days when he first received the notice of termination, Qin Wen consulted the reason for the termination from time to time, but all he could get was an "official response", and there was no reply on the matter of compensation.
After the contract was broken, Qin Wen could only quickly revise his resume and invest in a new round of job search. However, the spring recruitment that was about to end made him feel unprecedented pressure, and "I submitted a lot of resumes but didn't hear back". He found that the final jobs in the spring recruitment were more scarce and more competitive. He had to rewrite his resume, submit jobs, attend interviews, and juggle graduation defense.
On the grounds of delayed employment, he refused to compensate for liquidated damages for breach of contract
For many fresh graduates who are about to enter the workplace, they often take them off guard when faced with the company's breach of contract, which they self-deprecatingly believe is a "job trap" encountered by changing from student status to worker status and entering society.
Wang Hui, a master's student majoring in medicinal chemistry at Ocean University of China, was also recently forced to terminate the contract by the company in disguise.
In October last year, Wang Hui, who has many internship experiences and excellent professional knowledge, won offers from 7 well-known pharmaceutical companies during the autumn recruitment. After careful consideration, she chose a well-known pharmaceutical company in Jiangsu.
"Before the Chinese New Year, I signed a tripartite employment agreement with this company and went through the corresponding procedures, and after the Chinese New Year, I went back to school to start preparing for my graduation thesis defense." Wang Hui said that during this period, she still kept in touch with the company's HR and asked if she needed to intern in advance, and the other party said that she could prepare for graduation with peace of mind and be able to join the company after getting her graduation certificate.
But in April this year, a phone call from HR made her fall into the "ice hole": due to the company's business adjustment, all fresh graduates who have signed a contract need to extend their entry time, and they will not be able to join this year, and the entry time next year is to be determined, so it is recommended to find opportunities again.
"We have signed a total of 11 fresh graduates in our major, and everyone has received such a notice." Wang Hui bluntly said that this was a bolt from the blue for them. "Everyone knows that we have signed a tripartite agreement, and we do not need to pay liquidated damages on the grounds of delayed employment, and if we want to apply for termination, we will have to compensate the company for liquidated damages."
"A tripartite agreement, which I once thought was a strong guarantee, and tearing it up only requires a phone call from the corporate side." Wang Hui sighed.
"In the end, after the school negotiated, we were able to terminate the contract free of charge." Wang Hui told reporters that every graduate knows the value of the word "fresh". "Many central enterprises and state-owned enterprises attach importance to school recruitment, and are more willing to absorb people when recruiting at school, and social recruitment is not dominant. Once you lose your current status, many windows are closed. ”
I did a physical examination for entry, but I received a notice of termination from the company
On social platforms, the fresh graduates who have suffered from the company's contract break are far more than Qin Wen and Wang Hui.
"For the sake of a 'pigeon' that made my offer, I didn't even have time to attend the graduation ceremony." Li Yang, an international student majoring in digital media at a university in the United States, was caught off guard by a major Internet company in Hangzhou.
In March this year, Li Yang successfully obtained an offer from an Internet company in Hangzhou through four rounds of online written examinations and interviews. "At that time, HR promised me to officially join the company on May 15, but I had to go back to China for a medical examination before joining the company, so I returned to China before the graduation ceremony to start preparing for the induction." What Li Yang didn't expect was that the day after he completed the physical examination on May 10, he received a call from HR to break the contract.
"HR said that I could not sign a tripartite agreement on the grounds that I was an international student, and that the employment agreement could not be signed until I got my graduation certificate and officially joined the company." Li Yang said that he thought he was an international student at that time, so he didn't think much about it, and rented a house near the company as soon as he returned to China.
Li Yang told reporters that because HR informed him that he was hired by phone at that time, it is even troublesome to defend his rights now.
When asked about his follow-up plans, Li Yang said that it takes time and energy to defend his rights, and he wants to seize the "tail" of the graduation season, submit his resume, find a job as soon as possible, and minimize the loss, "After all, the identity of a fresh graduate is very precious."
The reporter combed through the social platform and found that in the related posts under the topics of #I was ruined/persuaded to retire by the company# and contract breach of contract#, many fresh graduates who were broken complained that the work set during the autumn recruitment was not broken until the end of the spring recruitment.
Wiring up lawyers
If you refuse to be hired after the offer is issued, you will be liable for the negligence of the contract
"The issuance of an offer by an enterprise has legal effect." Huang Yaokun, a lawyer at Guangdong Guohui (Changsha) Law Firm, pointed out in an interview with reporters that whether it is an offer issued by an enterprise to a job seeker, or various agreements and contracts signed by both parties, they are subject to legal constraints and cannot be arbitrarily terminated.
Huang Yaokun said that after an enterprise issues an offer to a job seeker, it repents and refuses to hire the job seeker due to the company's own reasons, which violates Article 7 of the Civil Code of the Mainland: civil entities engaged in civil activities shall follow the principle of good faith, uphold honesty and abide by commitments.
"From the perspective of labor law, although the fact that an employer has made an offer to a job seeker does not mean that a de facto employment relationship has been established, both parties should follow the principle of good faith in the process of establishing an employment relationship. As long as the job seeker agrees and meets the conditions in the offer, the offer is legally binding on both the enterprise and the job seeker, and the enterprise shall sign a labor contract with the applicant as scheduled in accordance with the content of the offer, otherwise the enterprise needs to bear the liability for negligence in contracting. Huang Yaokun said that the unilateral refusal of an enterprise to hire a "job seeker" constitutes an act of arbitrary termination of labor relations, and if it causes economic losses to the job seeker, it must be compensated in accordance with the law.
Huang Yaokun also mentioned that the "tripartite agreement" mentioned by many fresh graduates is a written agreement reached between college graduates and employers on the establishment of employment relations and the clarification of the rights and obligations of both parties within a specified period of time after two-way selection before formally establishing the labor and personnel relationship. The content of the agreement is also legally binding on the enterprise and the employee, and the corresponding liability shall be borne for violating the agreement.
"If a fresh graduate encounters a disguised breach of contract by the enterprise by delaying the time, he or she should pay attention to the formation and fixation of evidence such as communication records, and notify the enterprise in writing to give an accurate entry time within a reasonable period of time. If the enterprise still delays within a reasonable period of time, the graduates can choose to file a lawsuit to require the enterprise to perform the agreement and bear the liquidated damages, and if the loss is higher than the liquidated damages, they can also claim compensation for reasonable losses. ”
"Most fresh graduates lack the corresponding social experience and relevant legal knowledge when they go from the ivory tower to the workplace, and they are prone to encounter job traps and fall into job search difficulties when they are first employed." Huang Yaokun specially reminded, "On the one hand, we must have the awareness of market entities, and we should protect our own rights and interests in accordance with the law when encountering illegal and unreasonable treatment, on the other hand, we should also understand the recruitment company from multiple angles, inquire about the real situation of the enterprise through multiple channels, and carefully sign various documents and agreements according to our own situation. ”
(At the request of the interviewee, Qin Wen, Wang Hui, and Li Yang are pseudonyms.) )