The man received a compensation of 90000 yuan, and after two and a half years of employment, the company has agreed on five probationary periods | salary | company
When signing a labor contract, one may face the issue of a "probationary period". Is it legal for the same employer and employee to repeatedly agree on a "probationary period"? What should I do if I find that my salary and benefits are lower than the original agreement after joining the company? Recently, the Beijing court released two labor contract dispute cases and provided legal judgments to answer such questions.
After two and a half years of employment, the company unexpectedly agreed on five probationary periods in succession
Mr. Chen joined an engineering company in June 2018 as a project expansion manager. At that time, the engineering company signed a three-year labor contract with Mr. Chen, which stipulated a probationary period of three months. After the three-month probationary period ended, the company issued a Notice of Extension of Probationary Period, believing that after three months of observation, Mr. Chen had a strong spirit of love and dedication to his job, but his work expertise and skills were not well demonstrated and fully utilized. Therefore, the company decided to extend the probationary period for three months and subsequently signed a three-year labor contract again.
Judge Zheng Jizhe of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: Later on, this engineering company went back and forth, signing a 3-year labor contract with Mr. Chen a total of 5 times. Among them, 4 out of 5 contracts stipulated a 3-month probationary period, which was extended for another 3 months after the expiration of the 3-month period, and another contract directly stipulated a 6-month probationary period.
Until the end of December 2020, the engineering company issued a probationary dismissal notice to Mr. Chen on the grounds of his incompetence. At this time, Mr. Chen has been working in this company for two and a half years and has never left the probationary period.
After legal consultation, Mr. Chen filed a labor arbitration lawsuit, demanding that the engineering company bear compensation for the illegal probation period, compensation for the illegal termination of labor relations, and a total of 90000 yuan in unpaid annual leave wages. The labor dispute arbitration department supported Mr. Chen's request, and the engineering company filed a lawsuit against him.
After the court's trial, it was found that Article 19, Paragraph 2 of China's Labor Contract Law clearly stipulates that the same employer and the same employee can only agree on one probationary period. The engineering company, while continuing to work for more than two and a half years, has signed five labor contracts with Mr. Chen, each with a term of more than three years, and has agreed on a probationary period five times. Until the final termination of the contract, it is still a notice of termination during the probationary period. This practice seriously violates the provisions of the probationary period in the Labor Contract Law and should bear corresponding legal responsibilities. The final judgment is that the engineering company shall pay Mr. Chen a probationary period compensation and various expenses of 90000 yuan.
Judge Zheng Jizhe of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: As a worker, first of all, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of the legal provisions that the same employer can only agree on a probationary period with the same worker at most once, and there are no exceptions to this rule. So in practice, whether it is the employer's request for poor performance or other objective circumstances to find objective reasons to extend the probationary period, it is actually considered illegal.
The judge reminded that as a worker, if an employer violates the agreement on a probationary period, they have the right to refuse or file a complaint with the labor supervision department. If it does happen, one can take legal action to apply for labor arbitration or file a lawsuit with the people's court, demanding that the employer bear compensation liability. The compensation standard is calculated based on the salary after the probation period ends and the employee becomes a regular employee.
The company promised high salaries for recruitment, but upon joining, they found a serious shrinkage
If a company promises a high salary to a candidate during recruitment, but the candidate resigns from their previous employer and reports to a new one, only to find that their salary and benefits have significantly decreased, I believe no one can accept it. Let's take a look at Mr. Li's job hopping experience in Beijing.
Mr. Li from Beijing saw through a recruitment website that an education company in Beijing was recruiting for the position of a construction instructor, so he submitted his resume. After communicating with the company's HR manager Lv on WeChat, he accepted an interview according to the company's requirements. On the second day after the interview, the HR manager Lv gave him a phone call and asked him to add the other party's WeChat to discuss salary issues. After Mr. Li added it, the other party's WeChat name showed "Why not go far without dreams".
Job applicant Mr. Li: At first, he said he contacted me by phone but couldn't reach me. He asked me to add this WeChat account and discuss salary with me. He said he had already passed the interview. The WeChat account was given to me by their HR representative Lv, so I believe this person is from their HR department.
According to the chat records provided by Mr. Li, a person named "No Dreams Why Far Away" on WeChat promised him a monthly salary of 9500 yuan for a probationary period. After becoming a full-time employee, Mr. Li believed that this salary met his expectations, so he immediately resigned from his original employer at the urging of the other party. Two days later, Mr. Li received the "Employment Invitation Letter" from the education company as scheduled, but found that his salary had been reduced from the negotiated probationary period of 9500 yuan to 7200 yuan, and after becoming a regular employee, it was reduced from 10500 yuan to 9000 yuan. So he immediately communicated with "Why not go far without dreams" about this issue, and the other party's statement was that they should have made a mistake and would follow what they had previously agreed with him.
When he reported to the company, when he communicated with the HR manager Lv again about salary issues, Lv said that he could only give the number on the "Employment Invitation Letter".
Mr. Li, who made a promise but failed to fulfill it and offered a lower salary than his original one, became increasingly angry after giving up his job. He then filed a lawsuit in court, demanding compensation from the education company for his corresponding losses.
Judge Zheng Jizhe from the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: He believes that the education company has already promised him the corresponding salary after the interview, and he resigned from his previous job based on this trust. Therefore, Mr. Li believes that the education company should compensate him for the corresponding losses.
During recruitment communication, the personnel of the education company made a firm promise to offer a higher salary, but upon joining the company, they found that the salary was completely different from the original promise, with a difference of over 2000 yuan. Mr. Li candidly stated in court that he "never expected" such a non compliant recruitment. The explanation given by the recruiting unit in court is even more surprising.
In the court trial, the education company denied that it had promised Mr. Li a probationary salary of 9500 yuan during the recruitment process, and 10500 yuan after becoming a regular employee. It also denied that the salary negotiation with Mr. Li, who had no dreams, was a company employee.
Ding Wei, a litigation representative appointed by a certain educational technology company in Beijing, said: "There is no need to be far away without dreams" on this WeChat account. The unit said that there is no WeChat account for this person. This person is not our unit's, and I don't know who he is contacting.
Judge Zheng Jizhe of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: Why did Lv leave this phone number at that time?
Ding Wei, the legal representative appointed by a certain educational technology company in Beijing: I'm not quite sure about this.
Faced with the education company's denial, the judge acted in court and added the other party's WeChat account according to the phone number given to Mr. Li by the education company's personnel manager, Lv. At the same time, the judge requested the education company's litigation representative to conduct on-site verification.
Judge Zheng Jizhe of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: I am now holding my phone, opening WeChat, adding this phone number, and looking at this number, what WeChat searches for is this: "Why not go far without dreams". After you search for it yourself, tell me the result, is it this "why not go far without dreams"?
Ding Wei, the legal representative appointed by an educational technology company in Beijing: Yes.
At this point, the education company can no longer justify the salary promised to Mr. Li in advance. The court ultimately ruled that the education company should compensate Mr. Li for a reasonable loss of 9000 yuan.
Judge Zheng Jizhe of the Third Intermediate People's Court of Beijing: According to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, as a civil subject engaged in civil activities, one should abide by the principle of good faith and keep their promises. In this case, based on existing evidence, we believe that the education company had actually made a clear salary commitment to Mr. Li during the interview process. However, he did not invite him as promised, so he should be held responsible for the breach of contract with Mr. Li.
