The Buddhist scripture "Heart Sutra", 100 sentences, 0 characters, was translated and circulated in China by Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty. It has been circulated for thousands of years, and there are many people who copy the Heart Sutra by hand. However, without reaching an agreement with the employee, the employer arranges the hand-copying of the Heart Sutra as a job and requires it to be copied 0 times a day, is this act legal? Recently, the Beijing Daxing District People's Court heard such a labor dispute case.

[Basic facts of the case]

The company changes the work content, and the employee requests to terminate the contract and compensate

Xiao Yang signed an employment agreement with a medical company as a business manager. Later, without Xiao Yang's consent, the company adjusted it to a separate office, removed the office computer and office supplies, placed the "Heart Sutra" on his desk, adjusted Xiao Yang's work content to copy the "Heart Sutra" 100 times a day, and issued an announcement on the whole company for this adjustment.

Xiao Yang sent a Notice of Forced Termination of Labor Contract to the Company: Because the Company unilaterally changed the punitive work content and failed to provide labor conditions as agreed without reaching an agreement with him, he was notified to the Company that he was forced to terminate the labor contract in accordance with the provisions of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China. The company refused to pay severance for the termination of the labor relationship.

As a result, Xiao Yang applied for arbitration, demanding that a medical company pay severance for the termination of the labor relationship. The arbitration commission upheld Xiao Yang's arbitration claim, and a medical company was dissatisfied with the award and sued the Daxing court.

A medical company claimed that Xiao Yang had major faults that caused the project loss, but refused to find out the cause of the loss, causing the company's economic losses to continue to expand, and after many conversations, he refused to make corrections, did not perform his job duties, and did not abide by professional ethics, so he changed his work content, but the change of work content did not belong to the situation where economic compensation should be paid, so there was no need to pay economic compensation for the termination of labor relations.

[Court Hearing]

The work arrangement is inconsistent with the post, and it is not reasonable to exceed the reasonable scope

After trial, the court held that according to the recording submitted by Xiao Yang, the legal representative of a medical company arranged for Xiao Yang to copy the Heart Sutra 100 times a day and did not arrange other work, and he clearly stated that Xiao Yang was transferred to a separate office, and that he was not equipped with a computer, and his work was to copy the scriptures. This arrangement did not match the job position of Manager Xiao Yang, and exceeded the reasonable scope of the employer's arrangement of the employee's work. A medical company argued that copying the Heart Sutra had not been actually implemented, but in the process of communication between the two parties, Xiao Yang had already expressed his refusal to copy the Heart Sutra. Under such circumstances, the company still arranged for Xiao Yang to copy the Heart Sutra, and claimed that it was necessary to issue an announcement to the whole company to make people aware of it, so Xiao Yang did not carry out the act of copying the Heart Sutra, and the company's arrangement could not be justified. A medical company also argued that it recycled the computer to facilitate the follow-up investigation and that the company normally paid Xiao Yang's salary, but even if there was a situation where Xiao Yang should be investigated, copying the Heart Sutra 0 times was not a reasonable part of the investigation.

Therefore, the court ordered a medical company to pay Xiao Yang severance for the termination of the labor relationship. Dissatisfied, a medical company appealed, and the court of second instance upheld the above judgment.

[What the judge said]

If the employer does not provide working conditions, the employee may request to terminate the contract

Article 38 of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if an employer fails to provide labor protection or working conditions in accordance with the labor contract, the employee may terminate the labor contract. If the employee proposes to terminate the labor contract due to the above-mentioned circumstances, the employer shall pay severance for the termination of the labor relationship.

Working conditions refer to the production and working conditions that the employer must provide in accordance with the agreement during the performance of the labor contract according to the work performed by the employee, including the indispensable material and technical conditions such as the workplace, equipment and facilities, as well as the job position and work content. If the employer fails to provide jobs and arrange work content in accordance with the labor contract, which is a failure to provide labor conditions in accordance with the labor contract as stipulated in Article 38 of the Labor Contract Law, and the employee proposes to terminate the labor contract on this ground and requests the employer to pay severance for the termination of the labor relationship, the people's court shall support it.

本案中，某醫療公司為小楊安排單間，收回辦公電腦，不為小楊安排工作內容，僅要求每天抄寫《心經》一百遍，與小楊作為商務部經理的工作崗位及工作內容不匹配，且明顯具有懲罰性，屬於公司未提供勞動條件，小楊以此為由解除勞動關係，某醫療公司應向小楊支付解除勞動關係經濟補償金。

【Judge's Tips】

In practice, the concept of "working conditions" is broader, covering both the job and the content of the job

In practice, "working conditions" is a relatively broad concept, on the one hand, it refers to the material equipment and working environment required by workers to engage in labor, such as office equipment, access control, uniforms, badges, etc.; On the other hand, it refers to the job position and work content agreed in the labor contract. Because the employer believes that it has the right to employ employees, it is not uncommon for the employer to adjust the position and work content in the course of the employee's performance of duties, which is commonly known as "job transfer", but the exercise of this right must be reasonable and lawful.

The employer's management of employees must be based on the needs of production and operation, and must comply with the provisions of the law when it comes to the adjustment of jobs and work contents, and the relevant systems based on them should also be produced in accordance with democratic procedures, and the personal wishes of the employees must be fully considered. If the job adjustment or job content change is punitive, discriminatory, or has other purpose orientation, it may be determined that "failure to provide labor conditions in accordance with the labor contract" may be determined.

In this case, if the employee proposes to terminate the employment relationship on this ground, the employer will face the legal risk of paying severance payments. Employees should also make a comprehensive judgment on the working conditions according to their own job position and prudently exercise the right of termination.

Text: Liu Yuanyuan (Beijing Daxing District People's Court)

Editor/Hu Keqing