Who pays for the piece rate worker's vacation?, Media Survey: Making Money from Doing One Order
Does "piece rate workers" have the right to paid leave? Does taking leave really mean there is no money to earn? In fact, "piece rate workers" are not special workers, they are only paid based on their actual workload. Their work is protected by labor laws and they also have the right to paid leave.
"You can earn money from doing one order and rest, but you don't have any money to earn." On a day in late August, it was already 4 pm when Chen Tong, a ride hailing driver in Changsha, Hunan Province, shut down his order taking software and hurriedly ran to a noodle shop on the roadside to "grab a bite". When asked about paid vacation, he hesitated for a moment and said, "That's a benefit only available to white-collar workers, right? It has nothing to do with us sports cars."
A research report on travel platforms in first tier cities shows that most ride hailing drivers work an average of over 11 hours a day and travel 7 days a week. Reporters found during their visits that new forms of employment such as delivery riders and couriers, as well as some manufacturing workers, who earn income based on the number of orders received and completed, are facing the dilemma of being trapped in working hours and having no money to earn while on vacation.
Does "piece rate workers" have the right to paid leave? Does taking leave really mean there is no money to earn? The reporter conducted an investigation and interview.
"If people stop driving, their income will be cut off."
"If you don't drive, you will lose points, which will affect accepting orders. Therefore, running every day and having high activity values are the key to receiving good orders." Chen Tong said that he spends at least 10 hours driving on the road every day to ensure a monthly "gross income" of around 10000 yuan. His car is rented from a platform company, and the monthly rent of over 4000 yuan is a fixed expense. Excluding expenses such as charging and eating, he receives 6000 yuan per month.
"This income sounds decent, but unlike office workers in office buildings, we haven't paid the five insurances and one fund, let alone paid leave. When people rest or cars stop, our income is cut off," Chen Tong said helplessly.
Similarly, Zhang Yan, who is a rare female delivery rider on the road, cannot stop. The reporter met her during the lunch delivery rush hour and saw her stop her electric bike and jog all the way, just to race against time and intercept the elevator that was about to close in the mall as soon as possible. Not daring to ride too fast like a male rider, and wanting to deliver a few more orders during peak hours, Zhang Yan had to seize time during the walking pick-up and delivery process.
"I run crowdsourcing, work freely, and can run whenever I want. When there is something at home, I can also take a break." Speaking of paid leave, Zhang Yan said she has never heard of this benefit before. "We earn money from running one order, and taking a leave is something I can't even think about. I only care about how to run more orders and earn more money."
At the same time, the reporter randomly interviewed several manufacturing enterprises and practitioners in the productive service industry, and found that most of them did not know what paid leave was. At a logistics park in Changsha County, Liu Qiang, a loading and unloading worker, told reporters that his salary is mostly paid on a daily basis. "Pay once and earn as much as you do," he said; A recruitment announcement from a clothing company in Yiyang City shows that the salary and benefits for sewing workers are "piece rate wages, more work, more pay, and there is no upper limit." However, for paid leave, the company's recruiters stated that they "do not provide it.".
Some small and medium-sized enterprise leaders believe that implementing paid leave means increasing production costs. "By allowing workers on the assembly line to take paid leave, the factory needs to hire more people, which means paying more wages and increasing expenses," said an electronics factory manager who declined to be named.
"Piece workers" have the right to paid leave
In fact, according to the "Regulations on Paid Annual Leave for Employees" implemented since 2008, employees of government agencies, organizations, enterprises, public institutions, and individual industrial and commercial households with employees who have worked continuously for more than one year are entitled to paid annual leave.
In the same year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued and implemented the "Implementation Measures for Paid Annual Leave of Enterprise Employees", which clearly stated that the daily wage income for calculating the compensation for unpaid annual leave shall be converted based on the monthly wage of the employee divided by the number of days of monthly salary calculation. Employees enjoy the same salary income during their annual leave as during normal working hours. Employees who implement piece rate pay, commission pay, or other performance-based pay systems shall have their daily wage income calculated and paid in accordance with the aforementioned provisions.
"'Piece rate workers' are not special workers, but they are paid based on their actual production quantity. Their work is protected by labor laws and they also have the right to paid leave," Huang Zhoubing, Deputy Chairman of the Changsha Municipal Party Committee of the People's Republic of China and Associate Professor of the Law School of Changsha University of Science and Technology, told reporters.
The Labor Law stipulates that the state implements a working hour system where the daily working hours of workers do not exceed eight hours and the average weekly working hours do not exceed forty-four hours. Employers should reasonably determine the labor quota and piece rate compensation standards for workers who implement piece rate work based on this working hour system. Huang Zhoubing believes that "enterprises cannot confuse the working hour system and infringe on the paid leave rights of workers by using the form of completing work tasks as an excuse."
According to the Implementation Measures, employers and employees who have established labor relations with them shall apply this method.
"At present, there are shortcomings such as unclear labor relations between new forms of employment workers and employment platforms. This new employment model poses challenges to traditional employment relationships, legal liability recognition, and has led some platform enterprises to avoid their labor relations with flexible employment personnel in order to fulfill their protection obligations." Huang Zhoubing introduced that due to the lack of clear definition of whether the employment model under the new employment form belongs to labor relations, the judicial practice community has not reached a consensus on this, resulting in difficulties in protecting the rights and interests of new forms of employment workers. In addition, in the process of labor supervision and law enforcement, there are also phenomena such as non acceptance and non investigation of "piece rate worker" reports.
Implementing vacation rights requires multiple approaches
The reporter found that many places, including Hunan, Jiangsu, Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, etc., have issued documents on the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of new forms of employment workers such as online ride hailing delivery personnel, online ride hailing drivers, and truck drivers, focusing on promoting relevant enterprises to determine reasonable labor quotas, implement paid leave systems, and protect the right of workers to rest and take leave.
Huang Zhoubing believes that how to determine the employment relationship of new forms of employment is crucial for ensuring the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment, such as rest and vacation. He suggested revising and improving relevant provisions such as the Labor Law and the Employment Promotion Law based on the employment relationship of the new employment form, supplementing and promoting the development of the new employment form and the relevant content of employment, further refining the employment responsibilities undertaken by platform enterprises and other units in accordance with the law, and filling the gaps in the labor rights protection system.
"The labor management department should effectively fulfill its supervisory responsibilities, take proactive measures, effectively supervise, and strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of piece rate workers and new forms of employment workers in terms of rest and vacation." Huang Zhoubing also suggested strengthening the effective coverage of trade unions, expanding the scope of services, promoting collective bargaining among enterprises in new industries, and clarifying paid leave, overtime, and other matters related to new forms of employment through negotiation. In addition, it is also necessary to support and encourage multiple forces, including labor arbitration departments, mediation institutions, trade unions, courts, etc., to participate in the resolution of labor disputes, to facilitate the expression of interests and dispute resolution mechanisms between employers and workers, and to broaden the channels for workers to seek remedies for their rights.
Lawyer Lv Shuai from Hunan Tiandiren Law Firm also believes that promoting the implementation of paid leave rights for "piece workers" requires multiple approaches. "These workers often have weak awareness of their leave rights and need to strengthen publicity and education. At the same time, we need to increase labor supervision and promote enterprises to actively improve the rules and regulations related to paid leave."
