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Chinese woman fined by employers for having second child without their permission

They refunded the money on Friday, before reports appeared in print over the weekend

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Zhou’s case attracted wide media interest. Photo: Handout

A woman in eastern China has been fined after she gave birth to a second child without permission from her company, mainland media report.

The woman, referred to as Zhou Quan (not her real name) in the report, had signed an agreement with her employer in Jinan, Shandong province that only two woman staff at the company could be pregnant each year, one in April and another in October, after China loosened its decades old one-child policy to allow couples to have a second child, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

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Based on the schedule drafted by her company, Zhou could only become pregnant in 2020, the report said.

But soon after the company rolled out the regulation, Zhou found out she was pregnant. Considering her age of 31, she chose to have baby last year.

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Zhou shows a handwritten schedule showing the deductions from her monthly salary to cover the fine. Photo: Handout
Zhou shows a handwritten schedule showing the deductions from her monthly salary to cover the fine. Photo: Handout

Zhou took maternity leave but was later told by an officer at the company that she would be fined more than 2,000 yuan (US$290) as she was not giving birth according to the schedule.

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