- Source: Southern Workers' Daily
- Author: Xu Jieying, Ma Weifeng
- Time: 2024-04-30
- Visits: 356
A certain tourism products company in Guangzhou originally had its production and operation site in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. Later, due to business reasons, the company relocated the entire factory to Zhongluotan Town, Baiyun District, Guangzhou. The company issued the "Employee's Willingness to Move to the New Factory (Zhongluotan)" to its employees, which stated: "Our factory will be relocated to Zhongluotan Town, Baiyun District on July 15, 2014. We sincerely hope that all colleagues will move to the new factory to work together. If you are unwilling, please tick the box in front of 'unwilling' and sign your name, which will serve as a 30-day notice period for resignation to the company..." On the same day, Mr. Sun signed to confirm that he was unwilling to move to the new factory in Zhongluotan Town. On July 15, 2014, the company notified Mr. Sun that that day was his last working day in the company, and the two parties went through the handover procedures. Later, Mr. Sun applied for arbitration and filed a lawsuit demanding that the company pay compensation for the termination of the labor relationship.
After the trial, the first-instance court made a judgment that the company should pay economic compensation to Mr. Sun. The company was dissatisfied and appealed, requesting to change the judgment and stating that it did not need to pay economic compensation to Mr. Sun. After the trial, the second-instance court made a judgment to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
Articles 36 and 46 of the Labor Contract Law stipulate that an employer and an employee may terminate the labor contract upon reaching a consensus through consultation. The employer shall pay economic compensation to the employee. In this case, due to objective reasons, the company relocated its factory site from Huangpu District to Baiyun District. The two places are quite far apart, which constitutes a major change in the material terms of the labor contract. The company terminated the labor relationship with Mr. Sun according to his will, which is a situation of terminating the labor contract upon reaching a consensus through consultation, and it should pay economic compensation to Mr. Sun.
During the performance of the labor contract, the relocation of the company's business premises, the overall restructuring of the enterprise due to policy adjustments, force majeure, etc. are circumstances where there are major changes in the objective circumstances on which the labor contract was based at the time of its conclusion, making it impossible to perform the labor contract. In this regard, the employer and the employee may terminate the labor contract through consultation, but the employer shall pay economic compensation to the employee in accordance with the provisions of Article 46 of the Labor Contract Law.
Source: Southern Workers' Daily, by Xu Jieying and Ma Weifeng