On 11 September 2023, the Tianjin High People’s Court and the Tianjin Civilization Office released ten typical cases of carrying forward socialist core values. Among them, the case ten is related to labor and employment.

In this case, the employer installed a camera above the window of a small meeting room twice without the employee’s awareness after arranging for the employee to work in a small meeting room alone. The employee claimed that the employer had violated his/her right to privacy and personal information, and requested that the employer make a public apology, delete the video and files, and compensate the reasonable expenses incurred in defending his/her rights as well as moral compensation.

The court held that employee should accept the employer’s reasonable management at work, and also enjoy the right to inviolability of personality rights and interests. The employer specifically arranged for the employee to work alone in a small conference room, and secretly installed a camera to monitor the employee’s office area, which obviously exceeded the necessary limits of normal management, and to a certain extent damaged the employee’s privacy, so the employee’s request for the employer to make an apology was upheld.

On 11 October 2023, the Miyun District People’s Court of Beijing held a press conference, releasing the White Paper on Labor Dispute Trial Work of Miyun Court and informing about six typical cases of labor disputes. We highlight below cases for reference:

On 19 October 2023, the Wanzhou District People’s Court of Chongqing and the Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security jointly held a press conference to announce eight typical cases. The Case 3 also focused on the employment practice of inconsistent reasons for termination.

Haiwen Suggestions: The right to terminate the employment contract is a formative right, and it would be advisable for employers to specify the corresponding reasons for termination in the notice of termination in accordance with the Employment Contract Law when exercising the right to terminate the employment contract unilaterally. It is difficult to use the reasons for termination that the employer’s subsequent modifications and additions as a basis during the arbitration trial. After the termination of the labor relationship, employers are advised to go through the social security transfer procedures in a timely manner in accordance with the provisions of the law, in order to avoid losses.