Xia Shilan (pseudonym), an employee of a Shenzhen company, won a cash prize of 110,000 yuan at the company's 2021 annual meeting, but the company is unwilling to cash out. Xia Shilan said that after she kept pursuing her, the company paid her a bonus of 20,000 yuan, but she was quickly fired.
annual meeting will win the big prize, and the company refuses to pay
Xia Shilan's company is an automotive electronic information system provider. On August 28, 2020, she recruited the company through the Internet. On the day of joining the company, the company signed a three-year written labor contract with her, with a deadline to August 27, 2023. The contract stipulates that she is engaged in front desk service, with a salary standard of 4,500 yuan per month and no salary structure. "I was illegally terminated by the company. The reason given by the company is that I am not active in my work. In fact, the reason why the company fired me is that I have been asking the company to pay the 110,000 yuan bonus I won at the 2021 annual meeting, and the company is unwilling to pay the money." Xia Shilan said that after she continued to pursue the money, the company's boss agreed to pay her a 20,000 yuan bonus. However, the company quickly decided to terminate her labor contract. On April 25, 2021, Xia Shilan received a notice of termination of labor relations issued by the company to her. The next day, she applied to the labor dispute arbitration institution, requesting the ruling that the company would pay her compensation for illegally termination of labor relations and an unpaid annual meeting bonus of 90,000 yuan.
Court judgment: The company should fully cash in
0 Xia Shilan submitted to the arbitration tribunal the letter of introduction letters of petitioners, registration and processing forms for petition matters, web page prints, company 2021 annual meeting video, notarization certificates, notarization fee invoices and other evidence formed by her petition to the relevant authorities. In addition, she also added the details of the company's 2021 annual meeting process, WeChat chat records, and bank transaction records. The company argued that the act of issuing bonuses should be classified as gifts and a free contract. In this case, the company has the right to revoke the gift according to its true intention. Based on the statements of both parties and relevant evidence, the arbitration award supports Xia Shilan's request. The company dissatisfied with the ruling and filed a lawsuit with the first instance court. The first instance court held that the lottery award provided by the employer to the workers of the unit at the annual meeting is a way to motivate workers and is a welfare benefit provided by the employer to employees. After the employee wins the prize, the employer shall pay the workers the corresponding welfare benefits according to the promise in the reward, so the company should still pay Xia Shilan a bonus difference of 90,000 yuan. Regarding the issue of compensation, the first instance court held that since neither party provided valid evidence for the reasons for their respective resignation, it should be deemed that the company proposed and the labor contract was terminated through consensus between the two parties, the company should pay Xia Shilan 4,500 yuan in economic compensation for termination of the labor contract. Based on this, the first instance court ruled that the company paid Xia Shilan a bonus difference of 90,000 yuan and an economic compensation of 4,500 yuan for termination of the labor contract. The company appealed when it was dissatisfied with the first instance court's judgment. After the second instance court heard the case, the appeal was rejected and the original judgment was upheld.
Lawyer said: What is the nature of the prize metal that won at the company's annual meeting? Should the company pay it out?
First of all, the annual meeting lottery is a benefit provided by the company to employees. Generally speaking, the benefits provided by enterprises to employees are divided into two types: statutory and illegal. The former is such as social insurance, paid annual leave, etc., and the latter is such as various bonuses and various subsidies. Unlawful welfare refers to benefits that enterprises must provide, which are not required by law. The enterprise can provide or do not provide. It can be provided by the head, or according to the position, length of service, or in the form of luck (such as the annual meeting lottery in the case). The establishment of a lottery session at the annual meeting is an interactive activity between the company and the attendees in order to activate the atmosphere on the spot. It is one of the ways to provide employees with illegal benefits. The purpose is to thank employees for their hard work over the past year, and to motivate employees to continue to work hard in the coming year. For winners, the company has the obligation to cash out the corresponding prizes. Secondly, winning behavior does not affect the characterization of employee benefits. Civil law theory believes that winning behavior is a kind of "travel-to-nothing" behavior, which means whether one party performs its obligations depends on whether an accidental event occurs. The effect is that there is uncertainty when signing a contract, such as purchasing commercial accident insurance, purchasing welfare lottery, etc.Therefore, once an employee wins the prize, the company should cash out as agreed. In this case, Xia Shilan won 110,000 yuan in the company's annual meeting, which is an employee award, which is a welfare benefit provided by the employer to employees. After the worker wins the prize, the employer shall pay the worker the corresponding welfare benefits in accordance with the promise in the reward. Therefore, the court believes that the company should still pay Xia Shilan a bonus of 90,000 yuan, which is reasonable and legal. In this case, is it illegal for the company to terminate the labor contract with Xia Shilan?
In this case, the company first issued a notice to Xia Shilan to remove the labor contract. Although Xia Shilan claimed that the unit had illegally terminated, he did not provide valid evidence for this. Therefore, in the court's judgment, "the labor contract is terminated by the company and the two parties agree on an agreement" is also in line with the law.
Author of this article: "Gao Shuang's Lecture" Lawyer Help Group Member: Jiangsu Ruiguan Law Firm Lawyer Yu Wen Lawyer
Jiangsu News Broadcast Comprehensive Jiupai News, Labor No. 3 News, Observer Network
