By Liang Linda Qin Wen King&Wood Mallesons’ Labor Group
Feeling stressed and worried may be the first reaction of many company managers when they are directed to initiate a layoff. They are stressed by having no choice but to proceed with the layoff, and they are worried about the uncertainties inherent in terminating employee’s contracts.
By Yin Juquan and Pan Faluan, King & Wood Mallesons’ Labor Group
After an employee has been illegally terminated, a court or arbitrator may order their employer to reinstate them and compensate them for lost wages. How will the amount of lost wages be calculated, given that the employee was not actually working for the employer during the relevant time period?
We will give a brief introduction to this topic through a review and analysis of Judgment no. 11644, (2014), Civil Tribunal, Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court.
1. Summary of the Case
Employee A joined Company B on July 11, 2011. The labor contract between the two parties stated that A would be paid a monthly base salary of RMB 12,100 and a monthly performance bonus of RMB 9,900 (in the PRC, performance bonuses are generally fixed sums). As of January 2012, the base salary and performance bonus had been adjusted to RMB 14,520 and RMB 11,880 respectively (26,400 RMB in total). Company B terminated its labor contract with A on July 30, 2012.
Continue Reading Once a Labor Contract Has Been Illegally Terminated, How Will A Court Calculate Lost Wages?
用人单位被法院认定违法解除劳动合同并被判令继续履行劳动合同后，往往会面临如何向劳动者支付违法解除劳动合同期间之工资损失的问题。由于劳动者在该段期间并未实际提供劳动，此时应如何确定相应的工资数额？
以下将结合北京第二中级人民法院（下称“北京二中院”）作成的（2014）二中民终字第11644号判决，对当前司法实务现状作一个简要的介绍和分析。
一、案情概要
A于2011年7月11日入职B公司，双方签订了劳动合同并在劳动合同附件中约定A的基本工资为12100元，绩效奖金基数为9900元；2012年1月起工资调整为基本工资14520元，绩效工资11880元。2012年7月30日，B公司单方与A解除劳动合同。
Continue Reading 违法解除劳动合同期间，工资损失怎么算？
By Jiang Junlu Li Hongchuan King & Wood Mallesons’ Labor Group
1. Where no agreement is reached, the law provides no remedy
Coming out of the conference room, Zhang Ran appeared depressed. Leaning on her elbow at the desk, Zhang Ran felt she had met her biggest difficulty since taking the office of HR director. In March, the Head Office informed her that all the legal departments of its China entities would be integrated into the Asia Pacific head office, and accordingly, only the position of Legal Business Partner would still be offered in the China entities. Since then, Zhang Ran had this challenge: how to negotiate with the Legal Director at her branch about the change of position? When she greeted the Legal Director in the office, even the expression on her face became unnatural. Today, they finally had a chance to talk about this matter directly for an hour and a half. During the conversation, the Legal Director expressed reluctance about the change and even struck the desk in anger. At last, the negotiation ended in acrimony. “Oh my goodness…Just a change in title and no change in terms of salaries or other treatment, how can he be so stubborn?” Zhang Ran complained to her colleagues in a low voice.
Continue Reading The Deadlock in Labor Law
一、谈判谈不拢，法律也没办法
从会议室出来，张然就一副闷闷不乐的样子。回到办公桌上，她用手杵着头，似乎遇到了履职这家公司HR总监以来的最大的麻烦。3月份，总部的HR部门来通知，说要把中国区各个公司的法务部都整合到亚太地区总部，相应地，公司以后只保留Legal Business Partner的职位。从那时起，张然就为这事儿头疼：该怎么跟法律总监谈呢？她在办公室里和法律总监时不时就碰到，连打招呼的表情也变得有点不自然。今天，终于把这事儿摆在台面上说了一个半小时，结果法律总监非常不乐意，还拍了桌子，不欢而散。“哎，不就是变个Title，工资和待遇都没变，他怎么就那么犟呢？”，张然和同事小声抱怨着。
法律总监李小钦那边也不高兴。他半年前才被猎头挖过来，说实话，最让他满意的就是这个Legal Director的头衔，从法学院毕业七八年了，好不容易熬到一个知名公司法务部的头儿，怎么能说取消就取消呢？他在会议室和张然据理力争：“劳动合同上写着职位，我们就应该依照那个职位来履行”，“当初挖我的时候约好的职位，不能说变就变”、“劳动合同变更？我觉得是一个协商的结果，而我这边没法同意”，他一股脑地把不满都发泄出来。回到座位上冷静了一会儿，李小钦觉得有点后悔，给张然发了微信，说刚才不是针对她个人的。
Continue Reading 劳动法上的“僵局”
在美国电影、电视剧中，经常可以看到老板跟员工说，你被解雇了，下一个场景就是员工收拾东西、搬着小箱子走人。在中国，用人单位是不可以如此任性为之的。
与美国自由雇佣制度不同，中国法律规定了法定解除的情形。不管是个案解除还是一次性与较多员工解除劳动关系（“裁员”），用人单位要么与员工协商一致解除劳动关系，要么需要符合法律规定的可以单方解除劳动关系的情形。当然在裁员项目中，协商解除与单方解除可以搭配使用，例如：先尝试与员工协商解除劳动关系，如果无法与员工达成一致，再考虑单方解除劳动关系。
Continue Reading 如何确定裁员理由？——裁员系列文章之（一）
By Liang Yanling(Linda) Wang Zhaogang King&Wood Mallesons’ Labor Group
Those who watch Hollywood films and American television shows will be familiar with the following scene: A hapless employee is informed of his termination by his boss and must immediately pack up his things and leave the office. The employee is then seen leaving, carrying a Bankers Box, possibly engendering sympathy from the audience. Chinese films do not typically show such scenes because in China, employers are not allowed to fire someone at-will in this manner.
Unlike At-Will Employment as found in the US context, Chinese law stipulates select grounds under which employers are allowed to dismiss their employees. Regardless of the number of employees terminated, whether it is one layoff or a mass layoff, the employer shall either reach a consensus on mutual termination with the employee(s) through consultation, or unilaterally terminate the employees under certain circumstances in accordance with relevant clauses in the law. In a mass layoff, employers may use both mutual consultation and unilateral termination. For instance, the employer may consider unilateral termination if the previous attempt to reach a mutual termination has failed.
Continue Reading How to Determine the Legal Ground for a Layoff: What You Need to Know——Article 1 in a series on layoffs
By Lucy Lu Lexina Li King & Wood Mallesons’ Labor Group
There were increasing labor disputes arising from the termination of employment contract by the employer on the basis of material change of objective circumstance in recent time, which caused many controversies about how to apply this clause in practice. We reviewed the following case happened in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province and would like to discuss the application of this clause on the basis of the judgment of this case.
Continue Reading How to Understand “Material Change of Objective Circumstance”
近来，因企业主张适用“客观性情况发生重大变化”解除与员工劳动合同而引发的劳动争议越来越多，该条规定如何适用，在实践中引起了较大的争议。以下是一起在江苏苏州发生的案件，结合案件的裁判情况，与大家分享讨论适用规则如下：
一、案件争议
1. 案情回放
丁某自2001年起与苏州某电子技术公司(以下简称“A公司”）订立无固定期限劳动合同并履行至今。2012年起A公司的订单量大减，人员冗余日趋严重，盈利能力大幅下降。在该种情况下，2012年6月26日A公司召开了董事会会议并做出重要决议，决定为应对市场形势和经营状况的急剧变化，做出重大业务调整，与此同时，A公司也将依法安置因业务调整而受到影响的员工。在与公司工会商议，并得到工会的书面认可后，A公司试图与丁某协商解除劳动合同，但协商未果，员工拒绝。8月上旬，A公司又与丁某进行换岗沟通，无果。2012年8月8日，A公司以《劳动合同法》第四十条第三项“客观情况发生重大变化”为由单方解除了与丁某的劳动合同，并支付了经济补偿金及一个月工资的代通知金。
Continue Reading 如何理解“客观情况发生重大变化”
