Sorting, loading, unloading, and delivery only received over 100 yuan per week... Reporter investigation: Why does the summer labor chaos persist for a long time? Appointment | Hour | Provision | Unit | Student | Recruitment | Salary | Summer Worker

After 18 days of summer work, the salary I received was actually less than three digits.

Recently, two college students seeking help from summer workers were received by the media. The salary sheet provided by the two shows that the originally agreed upon base salary was 1000 yuan. When recruiting, they agreed to include food and accommodation, but when settling the payment, they deducted it repeatedly. After deducting various expenses, there was less than 100 yuan left. Other summer workers during the same period even worked for 32 days and only received 126 yuan in the end.

During summer vacation, many college students choose to do summer jobs. However, according to a recent survey by the reporter of the Legal Daily, many college students with summer work experience on the social platform roast that "never work in summer vacation" and "summer work is all a trap". Some employers promise high salaries when recruiting, but in reality, they use various reasons to deduct their salary benefits. Some employers only consider summer workers as short-term cheap labor, completely ignoring their due labor rights.

Why is there a continuous chaos in summer employment? How can we protect the rights and interests of summer workers? With these questions in mind, the reporter launched an investigation and interview.

Promises made in advance fall through afterwards

Deduction of due wages

In June of this year, Xiao Zi from Yibin City, Sichuan Province, who was preparing to attend university after the college entrance examination, saw a job advertisement online for a summer worker. He works in a logistics park located in the suburbs, doing sorting, loading and unloading of express delivery. Xiao Zi and five classmates made an appointment to work together. A few young people with the idea of "experiencing and earning some money" were unexpectedly splashed with cold water.

"At that time, the agreed upon rate was 15 yuan per hour, with 5 days of work per week and a weekly salary. The working hours were from 2 a.m. to 1 p.m. All meals and accommodation were waived, and each person could pay 10 yuan in water and electricity bills per day. After calculation, they could earn about 800 yuan per week." Xiao Zi said that the conditions provided by the employer during the recruitment process made him and his colleagues think it was quite good, so he happily agreed and went on to work after short-term training. However, the actual salary was completely different from what the other party promised.

Xiao Zi recalled, "When I went to collect my salary in the first week, I found that the originally expected salary of 800 yuan was only over 100 yuan. The originally only 10 yuan per day for water and electricity expenses turned out to be expenses for water, electricity, insurance, accommodation, etc., which added up to a deduction of over 200 yuan per week. However, in reality, we were not covered by any insurance. After working for 5 days, it turned out that I only managed to clock in for 3 days, but the key was that no one told us to clock in. Instead of calculating the working hours according to the original plan of 11 hours per day, we were directly deducted two hours of time for eating and resting."

After receiving their first week's salary, Xiao Zi and others felt deeply resentful. Later, they found the local labor supervision department, and after learning about the situation, the staff helped them recover the inexplicably deducted part of their salary.

Lin Yi, a college student from Shantou City, Guangdong Province who also suffered from salary deductions, is not so lucky. In July of this year, Lin Yi found a summer job as a community security guard through a recruitment agency. Originally, he had agreed with the agency to work for a month, with a salary of 20 yuan per hour and 8 hours per day.

"When I signed the contract, I didn't pay attention. The originally agreed upon one month had become three months, but now I have been working for a month and want to leave. The other party disagrees, saying that the contract states three months, and if I work for one month, I can only get half of the salary. The working hours have also been reduced to 12 hours a day, and if I don't work for 12 hours, I can only get 15 yuan per hour." Lin Yi said, "After calculating this, the final salary I can get is only one-third of the original.". He also tried to seek help from the local labor supervision department, but the other party said there was no good way to solve this situation.

The reporter found through investigation and interviews that there are frequent cases of withholding summer wages, and the reasons for withholding are also diverse. It is worth noting that these salary deductions are often not explained before the summer workers receive their salaries.

Professor Shen Jianfeng from the Law School of Central University of Finance and Economics told reporters that the current judicial practice in China often believes that students cannot establish labor relations, which leads to the phenomenon of students working during summer vacation not being protected by labor law, and can only determine their rights and obligations based on the free agreement of the parties involved. The agreement reached by the parties in accordance with the law also has legal binding force, and both parties shall abide by the agreement. Any violation of the agreed compensation and deduction reasons constitutes a breach of contract. Students have the right to demand that the unit continue to pay labor remuneration and assume liability for breach of contract.

In the view of Associate Professor Li Haiming from the Law School of Central University of Finance and Economics, the employment nature of summer workers is controversial, and there are also differences in the legal relationship between summer workers organized by the school and students themselves. If it is a student's independent summer job, and it is not related to the student's major, it is more reasonable to adjust it by labor law. At this time, the legal system of wage protection should be strictly followed to protect the rights of summer workers. If the focus of summer work for students is not on earning compensation, subsidizing learning and living, but on obtaining professional experience through internships, then the rules of salary protection should not be applied, but the Ministry of Education's rules on internship compensation and subsidies should still be applied.

"In addition, the key to this inconsistency between commitment and fulfillment is not whether it constitutes a deduction of wages, but whether the contract is complied with. If students can provide sufficient evidence, there should be multiple ways to remedy their compensation rights," said Li Haiming.

Recruitment fraud damages rights and interests

Various excuses for refusing to pay wages

Zhang Li, a college student from Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, told reporters that he recently saw a company recruiting in a part-time job group, with a monthly salary of 3000 yuan. He only works three days a week and the job is easy, but the specific job needs to be determined through an interview.

"The salary is high and easy, so I naturally want to give it a try," Zhang Li said. Based on the address provided by the other party, he arrived at a residential building without any signs on it. The person in charge of reception told him to pay a deposit of 100 yuan before confirming the job.

However, after paying the deposit, Zhang Li realized something was wrong. "The other party told me they needed to bring 20 more people over to arrange work, and the deposit wouldn't be refunded until I had enough." Zhang Li said, "So, I wasted 100 yuan and travel expenses, and in the end, I didn't make any profit. And the part-time group dissolved in a few days, and then I went to find everyone else."

Many summer workers have encountered a situation where the reality does not match the promotion. "Before coming, she confidently stated that interns and regular workers are treated equally, and now even the salary of 1000 yuan is being delayed, which is really unexpected." Chen Bei, who is studying at a university in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, told reporters that she was attracted by the "high salary" and went to a local educational and training institution as a summer worker. At that time, it was agreed to pay 80% of the regular worker's salary, but after a month of work, it became 40%, increasing from 8000 yuan to 4000 yuan per month. "Moreover, we have not enjoyed the various benefits of formal workers, such as taxi subsidies, daily fruits, etc. In addition to the work we should do, we also have to do miscellaneous tasks such as cleaning, which far exceeds the agreed upon end of work time. Therefore, only 70% of our monthly salary is paid, and we will pay it all when we resign." Chen Bei said, but when he had worked for a month and asked the other party to resign, the other party refused to pay the unpaid salary of over 1000 yuan on the grounds that "temporary workers cannot resign at any time".

During the investigation, the reporter found that many intermediaries and companies would post high paying job postings through channels such as part-time groups, "Moments", and local recruitment platforms, but the actual benefits may be greatly discounted. Some local recruitment official account and part-time groups lack basic review. There are also summer jobs of 4500 yuan per hour on them. In the notes, it is also required to mention the recruitment information seen on a recruitment platform when contacting.

Liu Wei, a partner of Beijing Shengchi Law Firm and a member of the Labor and Social Security Law Business Research Committee of the Chaoyang District Lawyers Association in Beijing, told reporters that some recruitment units attract job seekers by posting high salary information on recruitment platforms, and then sit on the ground to bargain, or cleverly create various names to cheat. This behavior is a typical recruitment fraud that seriously damages the rights and interests of job seekers.

The reporter's investigation found that there are also intermediaries who introduce summer workers to receive kickbacks. For example, the factory offers a price of 20 yuan per hour, while the outsourcing company offers 14 yuan per hour, from which they receive both referral fees and salary differentials.

Guo Yang, a lawyer at Beijing Kangda Law Firm, believes that professional intermediaries, after collecting referral fees, also deduct the labor fees of summer workers without authorization, which infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of summer workers. "The existence of black intermediaries can disrupt the normal market order, bring inconvenience and uncertainty to students or job seekers' job applications or internships. The information published by recruitment platforms should be open and transparent, and the principle of equality and voluntariness should also be followed in specific communication and job introductions with job seekers."

In addition, many summer workers complained to reporters that the enterprises they met refused to pay their summer workers or withhold their wages on the grounds of how many days they had not worked. Is this practice legal?

Li Haiming believes that this should be based on the agreement, especially when the enterprise should make a good agreement before the trial construction. Part time employment should be subject to the rules of part-time employment, and the law clearly stipulates that the settlement period shall not exceed 15 days. It should also depend on the specific job responsibilities. If it is a simple piece rate calculation on a daily basis, the salary should be settled on a daily basis; If it's just a try, we can respect the agreement between both parties, but we should also adhere to the minimum hourly wage standard.

Guo Yang introduced to the reporter that there is no mandatory legal provision regarding the payment cycle of labor fees. Generally, the labor service provider and the employing unit agree on their own in the labor contract, and regular settlements can be made in units of hours, days, weeks, months, and other time periods. Due to the fact that summer workers often provide labor services for a short period of time, it is advisable to agree on a shorter settlement period with the employer as much as possible, which can effectively prevent the behavior of defaulting on labor fees.

Strengthening supervision through multiple approaches

Enhance students' awareness of safeguarding their rights

Why does the summer employment chaos persist for a long time?

Experts interviewed believe that an important reason is the difficulty of student rights protection, and the inability of black intermediaries to receive effective supervision and punishment.

Guo Yang said that the difficulty in safeguarding rights lies in the fact that without a labor contract, it is difficult to prove the existence of a labor contract relationship between summer workers and employers. Recruitment advertisements are generally not recognized as a commitment of the company, nor can they be recognized as a labor relationship between the two parties. The rights and obligations of both parties should be based on the labor contract, so summer workers should try to sign a labor contract and pay attention to checking whether the recruitment advertisement is consistent with the content of the contract.

In Liu Wei's view, the cost of protecting the rights of summer workers is often relatively high. For example, the labor supervision department may not handle it based on the consideration that there is no labor relationship between summer workers and employers. Going to court for litigation will face economic pressures such as long litigation periods and paying certain litigation and lawyer fees. In addition, the salary amount of summer workers is relatively low, and many people may have to choose to give up their rights protection in the end.

Liu Wei said that the long-term existence of summer employment chaos is due to various reasons, and in order to carry out governance, multiple measures must be taken together. Firstly, the recruiting unit, i.e. the enterprise, should strictly adhere to the provisions of the Civil Code, adhere to the principle of honesty and credit, strengthen employment compliance management, and pay labor remuneration according to the agreed salary standards with job seekers. It is not allowed to reduce or deduct without authorization. The competent departments such as the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau should fully exert their regulatory functions and severely punish the malicious withholding of summer wages. In addition to ordering retroactive payments, they should also impose fines, rectification and other measures in accordance with the law. As an employment platform that provides recruitment information, it is also necessary to exercise the obligation of careful review when publishing recruitment information. If it is found that the recruiting unit has false advertising and fraudulent behavior, it should stop providing recruitment services to it in a timely manner, and even establish a "blacklist" system to remove recruiting units that lack the principle of integrity from cooperating clients.

In Shen Jianfeng's view, enterprises should strictly implement the "Regulations on the Management of Human Resources Service Institutions" implemented on August 1st this year, and relevant departments should change the judicial practice of summer workers being unable to establish labor relations and completely not protected by labor laws.

Li Haiming suggests that schools and the market should attach importance to college student education, incorporate summer work practices of college students into the key work of college education, and provide standardized and suitable summer work opportunities for college students.

Guo Yang believes that summer workers should enhance their awareness of safeguarding their rights and can request to sign labor agreements with employers to avoid labor disputes and difficulties in subsequent rights protection due to lack of relevant evidence. If the employer is unwilling to sign any agreement, relevant evidence can be saved through attendance records, online chat records, or audio and video recordings. When legitimate rights and interests are damaged, civil litigation can be filed with the people's court to protect their rights. At the same time, attention should be paid to identifying employment information and seeking employment through legitimate channels.