Years later, rights can still be protected. Lawyer: The disease has a long incubation period, and migrant workers with pneumoconiosis have won work-related injury lawsuits after 36 years of resignation. Labor | arbitration | work-related injury

"After more than three years of defending his rights, he finally won the lawsuit!" Recently, Lin Wanfu excitedly told a reporter from the Workers' Daily after receiving the winning verdict in the second trial. At this time, it has been 36 years since Lin Wanfu resigned from his original employer.

Lin Wanfu's hometown is in the rural area of Pingdu City, Qingdao. From 1984 to 1987, he worked as a wind drill at the fluorite mine in Pingdu County, Qingdao, and was exposed to a large amount of dust during his work. After leaving the fluorite mine, he did not work in a dust related enterprise again. Unfortunately, in February 2019, he was diagnosed with "suspected pneumoconiosis" by the hospital.

Pneumoconiosis is an occupational disease. If a patient completes the diagnosis of an occupational disease, they can undergo work-related injury recognition and receive compensation for work-related injuries. To diagnose occupational diseases, patients first need to confirm the existence of a labor relationship with their employer.

Due to the lack of a labor contract and having resigned for 36 years, Lin Wanfu lacks confidence in safeguarding his rights. However, in recent years, the country has continuously increased its efforts to protect the rights and interests of occupational disease patients, and the willingness of workers to prove for him has given him the confidence to protect his rights.

It is reported that in 1994, the fluorite mine in Pingdu County, Qingdao City was renamed as Pingdu Fluorite Mine in Qingdao City. In 1997, the Pingdu Fluorspar Mine in Qingdao applied for cancellation of registration procedures, and it was clearly stated that the Mingcun Town Industrial Committee in Pingdu City at that time would bear all the debts and debts of the enterprise.

In December 2019, Lin Wanfu applied for labor arbitration to the Pingdu Labor Dispute Arbitration Committee, requesting confirmation of his labor relationship with the Pingdu Fluorspar Mine in Qingdao. After one arbitration and two trials, in January 2021, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment, determining that Lin Wanfu had a labor relationship with the Pingdu Fluorspar Mine in Qingdao from 1984 to 1987. The court pointed out in the judgment that Lin Wanfu's lawsuit requesting confirmation of labor relations is a confirmation lawsuit and does not apply the one-year arbitration statute of limitations.

After successfully confirming the labor relationship, Lin Wanfu completed procedures such as occupational disease diagnosis, work-related injury identification, and labor capacity assessment.

Due to the failure of the unit to pay social security to him at that time, in August 2021, Lin Wanfu applied for labor arbitration and demanded work-related injury compensation from the Mingcun Town Government. After one ruling and two trials, in May of this year, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment, requiring the Mingcun Town Government to pay Lin Wanfu a one-time disability allowance of over 80000 yuan within 10 days from the effective date of the judgment, and to pay Lin Wanfu a disability allowance of 2862.45 yuan per month.

Regarding this, Zhang Shiqian, a lawyer at Hebei Houzheng Law Firm, stated that due to the long incubation period of pneumoconiosis, some workers may experience symptoms many years after leaving their jobs. At that time, they can still protect their rights, but confirming labor relations is the biggest obstacle.

"Previously, there was controversy in judicial practice regarding the applicability of the one-year arbitration statute of limitations to labor relations lawsuits. In this case, the court ultimately determined that labor relations lawsuits were not subject to the arbitration statute of limitations, protecting the rights and interests of occupational disease patients." Zhang Shiqian said.

However, due to the government of Mingcun Town not paying the compensation within the statutory deadline, Lin Wanfu has applied to the local court for compulsory enforcement. "I hope the court can initiate the compulsory execution procedure as soon as possible, so that I can receive the compensation as soon as possible," Lin Wanfu said in an interview with reporters today.

Confirmation of labor relations lawsuit not subject to arbitration statute of limitations

There is controversy in judicial practice regarding whether labor relations disputes are subject to a one-year arbitration statute of limitations. However, several labor law lawyers recently stated in an interview with reporters that an increasing number of places support the lawsuit of confirming labor relations as a confirmation lawsuit and are not subject to the statute of limitations for arbitration.

According to Article 2 (1) of the Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, disputes arising from the confirmation of labor relations fall within the scope of accepting labor disputes. Meanwhile, Article 27 of the law also stipulates that the statute of limitations for applying for arbitration of labor disputes is one year. The statute of limitations for arbitration shall be calculated from the date on which the parties knew or should have known that their rights had been infringed.

Zhang Shiqian, a lawyer at Hebei Houzheng Law Firm, said that due to the relatively long incubation period of pneumoconiosis, some workers gradually develop symptoms of pneumoconiosis several years or even 20-30 years after leaving their jobs. At this point, continuing to protect rights and confirming labor relations becomes the biggest obstacle to protecting rights. Firstly, the labor contracts, salary payment records, and work permits during employment may not have been preserved for a long time, and many workers may not even have labor contracts. The second reason is that there is some controversy in judicial practice regarding whether the one-year labor arbitration statute of limitations is applicable to the lawsuit of confirming labor relations.

"In fact, the arbitration statute of limitations system is designed to urge workers whose rights and interests have been infringed upon to exercise their rights in a timely manner. Therefore, in theory, the statute of limitations system only applies to the right to request. The lawsuit of confirming labor relations belongs to the lawsuit of confirming, so the arbitration statute of limitations system should not be applied to confirming labor relations." Zhang Shiqian said.

Zhang Shiqian further pointed out that even if the arbitration statute of limitations system is applied, the arbitration statute of limitations should not be calculated from the time the worker leaves, as many workers do not have any symptoms of pneumoconiosis when they leave. The purpose of confirming labor relations is to diagnose occupational diseases. If the statute of limitations for labor arbitration is calculated from the time of resignation, undoubtedly the vast majority of occupational disease patients with latent periods will not be able to undergo occupational disease diagnosis. As long as the employer negates the labor relations, the worker will be denied the right to confirm the labor relations on the grounds of exceeding the statute of limitations for arbitration. This will completely block the path for occupational disease patients to protect their rights and interests, and will also turn the protection of the rights of occupational disease patients into nothing.

In addition, when a worker suffers from pneumoconiosis and the company they worked for has already been deregistered, how should they protect their rights? Zhang Shiqian believes that firstly, it is possible to check whether the deregistered enterprise has any units that undertake the debt of the enterprise when handling the deregistration procedures. If there is a receiving unit, continue to claim from the receiving unit. Secondly, when the enterprise is deregistered, if it is not liquidated in accordance with the law, shareholders who have the obligation to liquidate should also be responsible for the work-related injury insurance benefits claimed by occupational disease patients. If the above two situations do not exist, you can apply for medical assistance and living assistance from the local medical security and civil affairs departments.