Digital Discrimination: Elderly Employee Fired for Inability to Apply for Online Leave

2024-03-18 12:22:43

A nearly 60-year-old employee in China was fired by his company because he could not apply for leave online. (Image/reproduced from pixabay)

The development of technology has made many processes digital. For example, when companies ask for leave, they usually have to use online systems, but this is unfair to many elders. There is an employee in China who is nearly 60 years old and has worked for more than 10 years. The company requires everyone to take leave and do online operations. Because he cannot operate, he was deemed absent from work and was so angry that he sued the court.

According to the “Jiangsu High Court WeChat Public Account”, Xin joined an accessories company in May 2012 and was engaged in workshop work for more than 10 years. However, the company issued an announcement in April 2019, requiring all employees to take leave and use the company’s WeChat online Operation, if you do not come to work without asking for leave, it will be treated as absenteeism.

Because Xin was not familiar with computer operations, he asked his colleagues for help on January 9 last year and submitted a special leave application on the company’s WeChat account from January 10 to January 20. On January 11, the company issued the “Spring Festival Holiday Announcement” 》, arranged for him to have a holiday from January 16 to January 27, and return to work as usual on January 28 and 29 due to the change of leave.

On January 28, many employees did not return to work on time. The person in charge asked in the WeChat work group to make up for their leave through an online process. That night, Xin told him that he would go back to work on January 31. When the supervisor called, he admitted that he would not be able to apply for leave online, and once again verbally proposed to make up for the leave after returning to work, but the supervisor did not agree or reject it.

Unexpectedly, when Xin returned to work as scheduled, he received a dismissal notice. The reason was that he was absent from work for three consecutive working days from January 28 to 30, 2023, and therefore the labor contract was terminated. Xin applied for arbitration, demanding confirmation that the company had violated the law and paying more than RMB 100,000 in compensation. The arbitration supported his request, but the company refused and sued the court.

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Xin’s leave time overlapped with the Spring Festival holiday. (Picture/reproduced from the WeChat public account of Jiangsu Higher People’s Court)

The court found that the time Xin applied for vacation partially overlapped with the Spring Festival holiday announced by the company. In addition, according to the facts found by the court, the company had a practice of making up for leave when implementing the leave system. Other employees who did not return to work this time also had to make up for their leave. Xin understood that the annual leave could be postponed, and communicated through WeChat and phone calls, hoping to make up for the leave after returning to work. This was the employee’s expected judgment based on the implementation of the company’s system, and it was not intentional absenteeism.

In addition, Xin is an older employee, and his previous leave requests were all completed with the assistance of others. Before the dispute between the two parties, he had worked for the company for many years and had only 2 years left before retirement. The company should terminate the labor relationship with him. Be prudent and tolerant.

The court pointed out that Xin’s illegal leave-taking behavior did not have a significant impact on the company’s daily production operations and management order, and was not serious enough to warrant dismissal. Therefore, it ruled that the company violated the labor contract and should pay compensation, and dismissed the company’s lawsuit. ask.

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