Labor contracts require negotiation; forced overtime is illegal.

[2] Compiled from: Shandong High Court
 
Case review
Zhang joined a newspaper company in September 2018 as a delivery worker, working 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, with a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan.

 
 

In June 2020, due to the resignation of another delivery person in the same area, a newspaper and periodical company, without consulting Zhang, arranged for him to take on that delivery person’s work tasks in the third quarter. Zhang believed that to complete double the workload, his daily working hours would need to be extended by at least 4 hours or more, so he refused the arrangement.

A newspaper company terminated its labor contract with Zhang on the grounds that Zhang refused to follow work arrangements, in accordance with the company’s employee reward and disciplinary system. Zhang applied to the Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Committee for arbitration, requesting a ruling that the newspaper company pay 14,000 yuan in compensation for unlawful termination of the labor contract.

 
 

 
[5] The Arbitration Committee ruled
[6] A labor contract is a written agreement clarifying the rights and obligations of the employer and the worker. Without modification, both parties must strictly perform according to the agreement, especially regarding labor quota standards such as working hours.
 
In this case, the newspaper company substantially increased Zhang's workload beyond a reasonable limit, which should be deemed a modification of the contents agreed upon in the labor contract. This violated the legal provisions requiring "mutual agreement" for modifying a labor contract and constituted a disguised form of forcing the worker to work overtime.
 
Therefore, Zhang has the right to refuse the above arrangement in accordance with the law. The newspaper company's termination of the labor contract with Zhang on the grounds of non-compliance with work arrangements does not comply with legal provisions.
 
Therefore, the arbitration commission ruled in accordance with the law that the newspaper company shall pay Zhang 14,000 yuan in compensation for the unlawful termination of the labor contract.
 
 
Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 31 An employer shall strictly implement the labor quota standards and shall not force or disguisedly force workers to work overtime.
 
Article 35 An employer and a worker may, through negotiation and mutual agreement, modify the contents stipulated in the labor contract.

 
 

 
[1] The author's perspective
According to the above legal provisions, an employer may modify the labor contract through consultation and agreement with the worker, thereby safeguarding the worker's legitimate rights and interests while also facilitating the employer's reasonable adjustment of employment arrangements based on production and operational needs.

However, it should be noted that once a decision is made to modify the labor contract, the employer must adhere to the principles of fairness and legality, equality and voluntariness, consensus through consultation, and good faith. The key issue in this case is that after Zhang's colleague resigned, the employer unilaterally imposed the resigning colleague's workload on Zhang without any discussion, significantly increasing Zhang's workload and working hours, which directly affected Zhang's right to rest. Such substantial adjustments by the employer should have been fully negotiated with the worker, rather than being enforced through coercion or disguised coercion, and must not violate relevant legal provisions.