What is the legal effect of company policies published via QQ or WeChat?
Wang, nearly sixty years old, submitted a leave request to his company before going out. The company, however, believed he had not followed the leave procedures announced in a QQ group and terminated the labor contract on the grounds of unauthorized absence from his post. Wang, nevertheless, stated that he did not know how to use the internet and was unaware of the notices in the QQ group. A dispute thus arose between Wang and the company. Recently, the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court ruled in the second instance that the company had breached the contract.
On August 16, 2012, Wang submitted a leave request to the company, covering the period from the 16th to the 31st of that month. On August 21, the company announced its leave policy in an internal QQ group and informed Wang in the group that he should submit a written leave application in accordance with the regulations before the 24th to complete the approval process, failing which the labor contract would be terminated. Investigation revealed that Wang had neither joined nor was aware of this QQ group, and was unaware of the company’s updates to the leave policy and other related matters.
Wang was dissatisfied with the company's unilateral termination of the labor contract and sued the company in the Chongqing Jiulongpo District People's Court. The Jiulongpo District People's Court held in the first instance that the plaintiff was not a member of the QQ group and, being nearly sixty years old, it was consistent with common sense that he did not know how to use QQ groups, and therefore determined that the defendant had not informed the plaintiff of its leave management system. The defendant's unilateral termination of the labor contract on the grounds that the plaintiff violated company rules had no legal basis. The court ruled that the company pay the plaintiff Wang 19,247 yuan in economic compensation for the termination of the labor relationship. The company refused to accept the judgment and filed an appeal. After trial, the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People's Court issued a second-instance judgment upholding the original judgment.
QQ and WeChat evidence has limitations
Under the Labor Contract Law, when a company terminates an employment contract on the grounds that an employee has seriously violated company rules, it must have previously fulfilled its obligation to inform the employee of the relevant rules and regulations. In this case, the company published its leave policy in an internal QQ group only after receiving the plaintiff’s leave request, but Wang was not a member of that QQ group and had no way of learning the content of the company’s notice. The court therefore found that the company had failed to fulfill its obligation to inform the employee in advance, and that its unilateral termination violated the law.
In addition, audio and message evidence from instant messaging tools such as QQ and WeChat presents significant difficulties and limitations in the authentication process. First, social tools such as QQ and WeChat mostly feature two-way or even multi-party communication and involve multiple accounts, which increases the difficulty of fact-finding.
Additionally, voice and message evidence from instant messaging tools such as QQ and WeChat has limitations in its probative value. Because QQ and WeChat evidence is easily modified or edited, and accounts can be readily deactivated, its probative value is often limited unless it has been subjected to forensic examination, preservation, or notarization. Among instant messaging tools, SMS text messages are relatively reliable, as they are stored on the mobile carrier’s servers; if the other party later disputes them, the message records can be retrieved from the carrier’s backend as evidence.
(Legal Daily)
