On February 15, it was revealed on the Internet that after the employees of Fat Donglai Food City in Xuchang, Henan Province quietly squatted down to taste the noodles, they stirred in the pot with unwashed chopsticks. On February 16, Fat Donglai dismissed the employee concerned. In this regard, a number of experts and lawyers interviewed by the reporter of "Worker **" believe that Fat Donglai's punishment is too heavy and does not conform to the principle of proportionality.
On February 16, Fat Donglai issued a statement on the situation of "Food City Employees Failed to Taste Staff Meals According to Article 3 of Fat Donglai's "Various Management Systems" - Catering Commodity Management System: Failure to use operating tools in accordance with food safety requirements and serious food safety hazards will result in the termination of the labor contract for the employees concerned.
Lawyer Hong Guibin, senior partner of Shanghai Huiye Law Firm and executive director of the Labor Law Professional Committee, told the reporter of "Worker**" that workers have reasonable expectations for the employer to exercise management rights in good faith, and the company's punishment for employees' misconduct should conform to the principle of proportionality, that is, the punishment result should be appropriate to the degree of fault of the disciplinary violation, and avoid light and heavy punishments. It should be pointed out that dismissal is the heaviest punishment for employees, which not only affects economic interests, including whether there is economic compensation, but also affects the professional reputation of employees, which is related to future reemployment.
Therefore, the punishment of dismissal should be based on the principle of prudence. In this case, the parties acted inappropriately and even violated the company's internal regulations, but whether the conduct was sufficient to cause a 'food safety hazard' should be comprehensively judged based on the background of the conduct and the degree of fault, and the conduct should not be determined to be serious and vile in nature just because it caused a dispute on the Internet. Hong Guibin said.
Hong Guibin further pointed out that judging from the details of **, it is more likely that the party did not replace and clean the chopsticks after tasting a noodle, which is still different from subjective malice. If it is a first offense, the employee should be given the opportunity to make corrections, otherwise although the excessively harsh punishment is conducive to maintaining the company's image, it may damage the legitimate rights and interests of the employee and is not conducive to the harmony and stability of labor relations.
Shen Jianfeng, director of the Academic Committee of the Law School of the China Institute of Labor Relations, told reporters that in the catering industry, which behaviors that violate the food safety operation rules can constitute a serious violation of the rules of the employer and terminate the labor contract accordingly, involving the protection of food safety, the protection of consumer rights and interests, and the protection of the rights and interests of workers.
Judging from the available information, the employee violated the food safety operation procedures in the process of tasting the staff meal instead of the meal provided to the customer, which does not directly involve the rights and interests of consumers, and it is difficult to say that there are serious food safety hazards. Directly terminating the labor contract on this basis is unreasonable and excessively heavy. From the perspective of labor law, the unilateral termination of an employment contract should adhere to the principle of last resort, that is, the termination of the employment contract can only be achieved when the normal operation of the employment relationship cannot be maintained after exhausting other administrative measures. It is not the most reasonable employment management idea to solve it. Shen Jianfeng said.
Lawyer Yao Junchang, a senior partner of Beijing Weiheng Law Firm and director of the Weiheng Labor Law Professional Committee, also said that Fat Donglai's punishment of the employees involved was too heavy. He said that although the company's rules and regulations clearly stipulate the punishment for such behavior, the content of the system should not only be legal, but also consider the reasonableness of the punishment. Because the employee did not use disposable chopsticks or replace chopsticks in accordance with the operating procedures, although there is a certain fault, the result may not cause serious consequences, and the employee, as an employee in the catering industry, has passed the physical examination before taking up his post, so he can be warned for his misconduct, and the punishment for directly terminating the contract is too heavy, depriving the worker of the right to employment and survival, which is unreasonable.
Fat Donglai has always paid great attention to the construction of corporate culture, and its pursuit of catering quality and food safety is worthy of recognition, but it should also comprehensively consider the handling of employee relations and possible consequences to avoid damaging the rights and interests of workers. Yao Junchang said.
Shen Jianfeng also pointed out that in this case, Fat Donglai, as a well-known enterprise, was also worried about adverse public opinion to a certain extent and took decisive measures, and even decided to close the hot pot stall at the same time. From this point of view, the public should also have a certain degree of tolerance when facing this situation. The pressure exerted by consumers on businesses is often passed on to workers.
Worker: Worker client.
Process edit: u027