Chinese man wins lawsuit against ex-boss, awarded US$2,600 for attending online meetings
Editorial praises court decision, says with advancement of communication tools, invasion of staff’s personal lives becomes more common
A man in Beijing has won a lawsuit against his former employer, who has been ordered to pay him overtime compensation for repeatedly requiring him to attend online training sessions after work hours.
The case has garnered significant public attention and has been labelled a “landmark” case following its report by the Workers’ Daily on July 17.
The man, referred to as Wang, began his employment at an engineering company in Beijing in July 2020 as an engineer and was terminated in June 2023. Details regarding his salary at the company remain undisclosed.
He filed an arbitration application, seeking more than 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) in overtime pay from the company, whose name was not revealed in the report.
According to Wang, his former employer frequently required him to participate in training via online applications, such as Ding Ding and WeChat, outside of regular working hours.
The company mandated that if an employee did not attend these meetings, they would need to make a “voluntary donation” of 200 yuan (US$28), Wang stated.
He provided screenshots of his online training participation and chat records with colleagues as evidence to substantiate his claim.
The company denied that these online trainings should be classified as overtime, asserting that any overtime arrangements needed prior approval from management.