New employment patterns create labor disputes

Disputes arising from a new employment patterns have been more frequently seen in the past three years, resulting in a Beijing court reminding workers to enhance legal awareness to prevent labor risks and required enterprises, especially those providing internet services, to strengthen self-discipline.

The warning of risks and requirement was written in a guideline issued by the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court on Tuesday after judges saw more than 2,400 labor cases caused by the new employment pattern from 2021 to 2023.

Different from the traditional labor relation between one employee and one employer, those lawsuits were initiated by one worker against multiple companies, asking the court for help in determining the labor relation or the back payment of wages, according to Wang Yang, a senior judge from the court.

She said that the cases mainly involved emerging businesses with the rapid growth of internet, such as express delivery, car-hailing service, online food orders and sales through livestreaming.

"In these industries, it often sees a job seeker sign a labor contact with one company, but to reduce the employment costs, the actual manager and wage payer are two other enterprises, which will lead to unclear labor relations and responsibility sharing, and thus the rights and interests of the worker cannot be protected," she explained.

In a case, for instance, a delivery man surnamed Sun sued an internet technology company to the court, claiming the enterprise he signed a contract with did not pay for his work from June to November in 2021.

However, the company said that its delivery business had been divided among multiple partners, meaning that it was just responsible for collecting the service fees instead of managing, recruiting or paying couriers.

During the case hearing, Sun provided evidence showing a courier station asking him to report the deliveries through an online platform where the information of the defendant could be found. But the internet technology company did not submit any evidence to support his claiming.

Therefore, the court ruled in favor of Sun at the end, ordering the company to pay him more than 7,400 yuan ($1,017).

"It was a typical lawsuit caused by the new employment pattern," said Wang. "The defendant was attempting to deny the labor relation with Sun by using the delivery business as an excuse."

"The enterprise's behavior not only made its workers confused with the accurate labor relation, bringing them a challenge in litigation, but also disturbed the employment order," she said.

"In addition to learning about what a job is and how much will be paid, I hope the verdict will tell people to have enough understanding about the working pattern while signing labor contracts with employers, so as to strongly protect their legitimate rights and interests in employment," she said.

Furthermore, she added that those disputes are also a big warning for employers, urging them to regulate their behaviors and suggesting them to develop their businesses in a healthy manner.