China considers making bosses pay employees for 'invisible overtime'
China is considering providing legal protection for workers who are required to stay online even after their work hours. This idea gained support from various government agencies and political advisory bodies after Lyu Guoquan, head of China's trade union federation's general office, suggested developing guidelines and a legal framework for "working overtime online." The suggestion was made last week at the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a gathering that offers policy suggestions to Chinese lawmakers.
Why does this story matter?
There has been a steady uproar by employees across the world about unpaid tasks outside their designated work hours. Just last month, Australia passed a groundbreaking "right to disconnect" law, which would allow workers to disregard "unreasonable calls," messages, and emails from their bosses when off the clock. Under Chinese labor law, employees need to work a maximum of 44 hours a week; anything exceeding that is considered overtime. However, an exceeding number of companies are flouting these rules.
Chief Justice of China supports rewarding overtime work
The issue of compensating workers for "invisible overtime" was also raised by Chief Justice Zhang Jun—president of the Supreme People's Court—in his work report to the National People's Congress. He explained that someone is deemed to be working overtime if they "contributed substantive labor" to tasks that "evidently consume time," including staying online. He argued that the standards guarantee that online [overtime] work is rewarded and offline rest is protected.
Previous cases of unpaid overtime work
Chinese courts have dealt with numerous cases related to online overtime payments in recent years, including a 2020 case where a short video team director sued their employer for unpaid overtime after being fired. Back then, a lower court concluded that the time the director, surnamed Li, spent on WeChat for work messages during their time off should also be "considered" when calculating overtime compensation. But the Supreme Court admitted that the time spent was "scattered and difficult to calculate"
Would take 2 years for such a law: Lou Yu
Meanwhile, Lou Yu—director of the Social Law Institute at China University of Political Science and Law—said it was very likely that rules would be formulated to regulate online overtime. "This is a very prominent labor and employment issue at present, and the proposal was recognized by different sectors," he said. However, he cautioned that it would take at least two years to formulate a ministry-level regulation and "even longer" for a law under the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.
