In China, an employee was fired for refusing to speak at a corporate event

In Shenzhen, China, an employee was fired for refusing to speak at a corporate event. However, the court found this action illegal. This was reported by the news.southcn portal with reference to the account of the Shenzhen Trade Union.

According to them, the management of one of the companies demanded that an employee perform a comedy act at an annual corporate event. The man refused, citing the workload.

The management regarded this as "disrespect" and the very next day issued him a notice of termination of the employment contract, citing "disobedience to company orders" and "absenteeism" as the reasons. The employee's actions were classified as a serious violation of discipline.

The man did not agree with the dismissal and appealed to the labor arbitration. The case ended with reconciliation in the second instance. As a result, the court found that the company had unlawfully terminated the employment contract and ordered the employer to pay a lump sum compensation to the employee.

Explaining the situation, the Shenzhen Trade Union stressed that the key issue is whether participation in the corporate event is voluntary or mandatory. If the employer explicitly requires the participation of all employees and associates it with attendance, performance evaluation, or possible sanctions, such an event becomes compulsory and actually relates to work obligations.

If a company declares in advance that participation is voluntary, does not keep records of attendance, does not apply penalties, and, on the contrary, provides facilities or compensation to participants, then a corporate event is considered an element of corporate benefits, not work.

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The South China Morning Post newspaper on December 14 last year reported the dismissal of a Chinese engineer who regularly left his workplace for long trips to the toilet, citing health problems. According to the publication, from April to May 2024, the man went to the bathroom 14 times for more than an hour, and the longest break was about four hours. The employer qualified this as an unauthorized absence from the workplace and terminated the employment contract.

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