The trial in Shanghai gave a vivid lesson, "This is clearly humiliating me..." The company's transferred employees are unwilling to go to the arbitration court | Enterprise | Shanghai
"I have been working in the sales industry for more than a decade, and no company has ever said that my work ability is not good, and my leaders are intentionally targeting me..." Today, a unique labor dispute arbitration hearing was held at the Shanghai Labor Dispute Arbitration Institute.
Unlike a formal court hearing, this is a simulated trial: the members of the arbitration panel include the company's CEO and executives, and both parties are played by corporate legal and lawyers, while the arbitrator plays the role of a laborer. Under the opportunity of the government's open theme activity of "Entering Arbitration and Guarding the Rule of Law" held by the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, representatives of enterprises recommended by the Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, Municipal Enterprise Federation, Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, and Municipal Employment Promotion Center, as well as representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, visited the Municipal Arbitration Court to gain a close understanding of labor and personnel dispute mediation and arbitration work, and to experience the achievements of the development of human resources and social rule of law construction.
This simulated trial revolves around recent representative and highly anticipated job transfer cases in the field of labor and employment. In the case, the applicant "Zhu Guangxiao" originally served as a senior account manager at "Shanghai Huding Trading Co., Ltd.". Due to failing two consecutive performance evaluations, the company transferred him to an administrative position, and there was a dispute between the two parties over the transfer. Later, the company terminated the employment relationship with Zhu Guangxiao on the grounds of his disobedience to work arrangements and serious violations of discipline. Zhu Guangxiao was dissatisfied and went to the Municipal Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission to apply for arbitration.
"Job transfer is a type of labor dispute that we have encountered frequently in the past two years, and this script is adapted from multiple real cases." Zhou Lu, the presiding judge of the First Court of the Municipal Arbitration Court, was also the chief arbitrator of today's simulated trial. She told reporters that there are three main forms of job transfers in reality, including negotiated transfers, transfers based on the agreed terms in the labor contract, and unilateral transfers by employers. The last one is the most challenging.
The situation with Zhu Guangxiao is that the company unilaterally transferred positions on the grounds of incompetence. During the trial, the company's legal department provided performance evaluation methods and Zhu Guangxiao's performance chart in recent years, proving that the company conducted the assessment based on the performance evaluation methods and did not target Zhu Guangxiao personally.
However, Zhu Guangxiao does not recognize the authenticity, relevance, and legality of this performance evaluation method. He stated that he has never seen this document before and speculates that it may have been specially prepared for this trial. He also angrily said that after being transferred, his workstation was also moved to the shredder in the far corner of the office, "This is clearly humiliating me.".
Watching the trial fall into a situation of "public speaking makes sense, while women speak for themselves", the arbitrator calmed the emotions of both parties while starting with more evidence such as surveillance videos and employee manuals from job transfer interviews to further evaluate the legality of job transfer.
"This involves an issue of information asymmetry." In the later interactive section, Zhou Lu explained that when employers formulate assessment methods, employee manuals, and other rules and regulations, they should refer to and absorb the opinions of workers, so that they are fully aware of these major systems that are related to their immediate interests, ensuring information consistency and procedural legitimacy. At the same time, she suggests that when workers encounter labor disputes, they should rationally protect their rights through channels such as trade unions, street and town mediation organizations, and city level arbitration courts, and not become emotional slaves.
How exactly is this case judged? At the suggestion of the arbitrator, both parties accepted mediation, and in the end, Zhu Guangxiao agreed to resign, and the company was required to pay him an "N+1" compensation. A vivid "live teaching" came to an end.
At the event site, many enterprise HR personnel observed carefully while taking notes. A representative of a company said, "Through immersive experience of the arbitration trial process, we have a close experience of the real situation in the field of labor law. We will further improve rules and regulations, standardize employment management, prevent and resolve employment risks, and build harmonious labor relations." HR also lamented that if the company can actively respond to the demands of workers in daily communication, many conflicts will become minor and insignificant, and will not escalate to arbitration.
"We have representatives of enterprises sit in the position of arbitrators, allowing them to experience the emotions of workers. Through such a role exchange, we hope to help everyone enhance mutual understanding, which is an important foundation for the coordination and resolution of labor disputes." Ke Shunli, the President of the Municipal Arbitration Court, stated that this event aims to standardize the recruitment process and employment management of enterprises, and reduce conflicts and disputes from the root through on-site observation, interactive communication, and immersive experience; On the other hand, it is necessary to enhance the ability of enterprises to independently prevent and resolve labor disputes, while strengthening the promotion of labor dispute mediation mechanisms, and resolving conflicts and disputes in non litigation forms as much as possible, achieving the effect of case closure, dispute resolution, and human reconciliation.
Since 2020, the Municipal Arbitration Court has continuously focused on promoting legal awareness and thinking, promoting human resources and social security laws and regulations, and carrying out a series of practical and innovative activities. The Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security introduced that the next step will be to expand the breadth and depth of labor dispute mediation and arbitration services throughout the city, leverage the advantages of legal education and publicity of the human resources and social security departments, combine arbitration services with employment and entrepreneurship services, promote high-quality development of enterprises, and strive to play a positive role in improving the ability of enterprises to prevent and resolve labor disputes, promoting harmonious labor relations, stabilizing market entities, and maintaining employment stability.
