Recently, an employee of a medical company in Shanghai was deducted over 200,000 yuan in salary for being late, sparking heated discussions among netizens.
On May 4th, the topic “Employee deducted 200,000 yuan in salary for being late in a year” trended as the number one hot search.
According to a recent labor dispute case disclosed by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court, Jiang was hired for an office job at a medical company in Shanghai in September 2019.
The company’s attendance system stipulates that employees must clock in and out for work. Unauthorized absence, lateness, early leave, unapproved leave, or leaving the post for more than 60 minutes are considered as absenteeism for a day.
For every month where accumulated late arrival or early leave exceeds 10 minutes, 1% of that month’s salary is deducted. After being late more than 3 times in a month, each late arrival is treated as absenteeism for a day. For every day of absenteeism, 8% of that month’s salary is deducted.
Between November 2020 and November 2021, according to the attendance system, the company actually deducted a total of over 209,000 yuan from Jiang’s salary.
In response, Jiang applied for labor arbitration, arguing that the company’s deduction of his salary was not legally justified and demanded the payment of the deducted salary.
The arbitration decision supported Jiang’s claim. The company, dissatisfied with the arbitration ruling, filed a lawsuit with the Huangpu District Court in Shanghai seeking to avoid making the payment.
The court found the company’s regulations unreasonable and ruled for the company to pay Jiang the salary difference of over 196,000 yuan.
After the first trial judgment, neither party appealed, and the ruling is now in effect.
In light of this, netizens have been actively discussing: “They deducted more than I earn.” “The money deducted for being late would cover my salary for 4 years.” “I wonder how much salary he actually received after the deductions.”
Netizens from various regions also mentioned that exploiting employees’ labor achievements under the pretext of being late has become commonplace across various industries.
“In a small company on 678 line, they deduct 100 yuan for being one minute late, 300 for being 5 minutes late, and 500 for being 15 minutes late. No overtime pay for working on holidays or late departures.” “When my son worked at a thermal power plant in Shanghai, he came back driving in the middle of the night saying his coworker’s head got hit by a tool. I asked why he didn’t call an ambulance, and he said he would be fined 500 yuan for workplace injury. So, he ended up getting over ten stitches for just a little over 100 yuan!” “I work as a substitute driver after work. If there’s an accident, I face penalties, fines or even contract termination. Some drivers would rather pay for the car repairs themselves. In a world of the poor, there is no justice under the law.” “Working in an electronics factory in Dongguan, earning just over 4,000 yuan a month, being late once and sick for 4 days resulted in no pay, but rather having to pay 300 yuan out of pocket.”