Hysome Cases | Labor dispute between Beijing Beifen-Ruili Analytical Instrument (Group) Co., Ltd. and Mr. Zhai

Mr. Zhai was originally a purchaser of the client, Beijing Beifen-Ruili Analytical Instrument (Group) Co., Ltd., and since May 20, 2016, Mr. Zhai has stopped attending work. Mr. Chen, the head of Ruili Company, repeatedly persuaded him to return to work but failed. On July 1, 2017, Ruili Analytical Company terminated the labor relationship with Mr. Zhai on the ground that Mr. Zhai had been absent for 15 days and seriously violated the company's rules and regulations and delivered a notice of termination of labor relationship. Mr. Zhai filed arbitration to the Beijing Chaoyang District Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission and requested Beijing Ruili Analytical Company to pay compensation for the illegal termination of the labor contract and pay for the annual leave that he did not take during his employment. After the Arbitration Commission rejected Mr. Zhai's arbitration request, Mr. Zhai filed a lawsuit before the Chaoyang District People's Court in Beijing. The court found that the attendance statistics table provided by Ruili Analytical Company to prove that Mr. Zhai had been absent for more than 15 days was generated by the company system, which is lacked independent proof, and that the WeChat chat records between Mr. Zhai and Mr. Chen, the head of the company presented by Ruili, were difficult to confirm the authenticity of Mr. Zhai's WeChat chat records with Mr. Chen, the head of the company due to lack of original carriers. It was determined that Ruili's unilateral cancellation was illegal and supported Mr. Zhai's request for paying the untaken annual leave wagefrom 2015 to 2017.

Beijing Ruili Analytical Instrument (Group) Co., Ltd. Disagreed therewith, so it commissioned our attorney Yuan Quan to file an appeal to the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court.

The focus of the dispute in this case is: 

1. Whether Ruili Analytical Company’s termination of the labor relationship with Mr. Zhai is illegal; 

2. Whether Ruili Analytical Company shall pay Mr. Zhai for his untaken annual leave from 2015 to 2017.

After a trial, the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court found that Mr. Zhai's attendance check in records submitted by Ruili Analytical Company and WeChat chat records can be mutually corroborated: it is of high possibility of the fact that Mr. Zhai has been absent from work for a long time. The “Labor Management System” of Ruili Analytical Company has been established through democratic procedures. According to this, the termination of the labor relationship with Mr. Zhai does not constitute an illegal termination, and Ruili Analytical Company does not need to pay compensation for the illegal termination of the labor relationship. Also, due to the fact that Mr. Zhai has not been at work for a long time since May 20, 2016, the number of days he has not attended work has far exceeded the number of days he should not have taken annual leave, so there is no support for Mr. Zhai's claim for untaken annual leave of the corresponding period. On this basis, the court of second instance annuled the judgment of the first instance and rejected all claims proposed by Mr. Zhai.

The judgement of the first instance in this case were extremely unfavorable to Ruili Analytic Company. After Ruili Analytic Company appointed our attorney Yuan Quan as agent in the second instance, after a detailed analysis of the reasons for losing the lawsuit in the first instance, Mr. Yuan Quan submitted 11 additional pieces of new evidence in the second instance, including the Ruili Analytic Company's rules and regulations formulation procedure certificate, and obtained the chat records between Mr. Chen, the head of Ruili Analytic Company, and Mr. Zhai XX, an employee. In such a case, the chain of evidence submitted by the client was more complete and detailed. The court of the second instance adopted and supported that Ruili Analytical Company does not need to pay compensation for illegal termination of the labor contract and the amount for untaken annual leave. In the end, we recovered our parties' economic losses and protected its legitimate rights and interests.