What's wrong with this lawyer?!

"The reason is simple, because the defendant, in the process of dismissal, did not inform the labor union of the reasons for dismissal in advance, and moreover, did not correct this procedure before we initiated legal action."

"According to the provisions of Article 43 of the 'Labor Contract Law,' if an employer unilaterally terminates a labor contract, they must notify the labor union in advance."

"If an employer violates laws, administrative regulations, or labor contract agreements, the labor union has the right to demand that the employer corrects its actions. The employer should consider the labor union's opinions and notify the labor union of the outcome in writing."

"However, in this case, all evidence presented by the defendant doesn't reflect that this procedure was followed, so the termination of the labor contract can be deemed illegal!"

What the heck? Qi Xinwen was bewildered, thinking, is labor union involvement still a thing when firing someone these days?

Or rather, can the labor union actually manage such matters?

Not to mention that many companies nowadays do not even have a labor union, but even in those that do, employees are all aware of one thing—the labor union's role seems to be limited to distributing mooncakes and such.

Besides that, it's practically useless.

But then again, in companies with a labor union, employees, as members, are required to pay union dues, and our country has a dedicated 'Trade Union Law'!
Find exclusive stories on empire

You must know, this law was passed by the National People's Congress.

So, labor union organizations are actually very important. That's why the Labor Contract Law specifically mandates that you must notify the labor union if you want to terminate a labor agreement, even if it's just a formality!

But now, many people deliberately overlook this point, leading some enterprises to dismiss employees recklessly, firing them however they please.

So, the question arises, what if the company hasn't established a labor union? What then?

Across from him, Zhang Xiangnan also snapped back to reality after being stunned for a while, realizing he had made a significant mistake, or rather, he, as the company's legal officer, had simply pushed the labor union to the back of his mind.

Old Zhou too paused for a moment before it occurred to him. This was getting interesting. Tang Fangjing, who usually emphasized substance over procedure, was now starting from a procedural point.

"Defendant, did your company go through the labor union for the dismissal?"

Zhang Xiangnan hurriedly said, "That, Judgment Chief, our company has not established a labor union, so there was no way to notify them."

"It's not that we don't want to go through the labor union. We genuinely can't do it because there is no labor union, making it objectively impossible to complete the process. Therefore, I believe this shouldn't be considered an unlawful termination."

As he spoke, Zhang Xiangnan frantically recalled labor laws and judicial interpretations in his mind, failing to remember any judicial interpretations that had such stipulations.

It seems that only the Labor Contract Law has such a provision, right...

As a matter of fact, Zhang Xiangnan was correct. In both Tang Fangjing's past and current life, there were no specific provisions, and rulings across different regions varied greatly.

Some believed that if a requirement was established to go through the labor union and you haven't, then alternative means should be found, such as holding a staff meeting, or notifying the local labor union.

Some courts agreed with Zhang Xiangnan's view, but more explicitly—under private law, where prohibition does not exist, freedom does. Since neither the Labor Contract Law nor the judicial interpretations explicitly state that you must notify the union even if one hasn't been established, then notification is not necessary.

Therefore, the judgments on this issue could make your head spin. However, some provinces have answered through local regulations, like in the previous life of the Su Province.

In its local labor regulations, it was made clear that notification to the labor union is mandatory, and there was no room for discussion.

Old Tang supported the former perspective, and he had his reasons.

Subsequently, Old Tang spoke, "According to the 'Understanding and Application of Labor Dispute Judicial Interpretations (Four)' edited by The First Civil Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court:"

"'The legislative intent of the Labor Contract Law is to prevent employers from arbitrarily terminating labor contracts... Even if a unit has not established a base-level labor union, it should fulfill the legal procedure of notifying obligations by informing and seeking the opinions of employee representatives or by seeking opinions from the local general labor union in an alternative manner...'."

He articulated the legislative spirit of the rule by quoting the viewpoints from a book compiled by the Supreme Court's First Civil Tribunal.

The very purpose of creating this provision in the Labor Contract Law was to prevent employers from firing workers at will, which is the essence of the legislation.

Instead, by outright not setting up a labor union and then skipping the notification process, this directly contradicts the legislative intent, and that's unmistakably incorrect.

Even if it's just a matter of protocol, it should still be followed through properly. If in a hundred labor disputes, there is even one case where the local labor union is willing to intervene somewhat, that would suffice.

No similar case precedent currently exists in Handong Province, so he, Tang Fangjing, wanted to be the first to make a breakthrough.

Incidentally, he wanted to establish some rules in Handong Province. Ideally, through this case, he hoped to facilitate the establishment of local regulatory systems to make them fixed by law.

That was also a small wish of his. Even if the case was won and a precedent set, judges would not necessarily adhere to it—having formal regulations would be much better.

Old Zhou was jotting down something when he felt Tang Fangjing had finished speaking, he then looked up and asked, "Defendant, do you have anything else to add?"

Zhang Xiangnan was nearly out of his wits, but unfortunately, he didn't have any brilliant insights like Old Tang. He simply had to shake his head and say, "There's nothing else to add."