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There are many cases of labor disputes caused by employees being dismissed because they concealed relevant circumstances. Employees have the obligation to truthfully inform the employer. At the same time, the employer should not abuse management rights to infringe on employee privacy.
Because he concealed the fact that he had a labor dispute with his former employer and brought it to court, Deng was terminated from his labor contract by the company on the grounds of fraud. Recently, the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security and the Provincial Higher People’s Court issued an illegal termination of labor contract case, which attracted attention.
Reporters investigated and interviewed and found that there were many cases of labor disputes arising from employees who were dismissed because they concealed relevant information. Employees should fulfill their obligation to truthfully report to the employer in accordance with the principle of good faith, but the law does not clearly stipulate what situations must be reported truthfully. Which situations can employees hide when applying for a job, and which ones must be truthfully disclosed? Where is the boundary between corporate employment management rights and employees’ privacy rights?
Employee was fired for concealing relevant information
In August 2020, Deng signed a labor contract with a company, and his position was sales manager. Deng filled in “none” in the “Are there any legal disputes or judgments” column on the employment registration form, but in fact Deng had a labor dispute with his former employer and took it to court.
In November 2021, the company served Deng with a "Notice of Termination of the Labor Contract". The reason was that Deng provided false information to the company in a fraudulent manner and decided to terminate the labor contract with Deng without paying any financial compensation. Deng was dissatisfied and initiated labor arbitration.
The arbitration held that Deng’s concealment of his involvement in the lawsuit would not have a substantial impact on his ability to be a sales manager. Because the company did not provide effective evidence to prove that Deng’s business ability could not meet the requirements of the position, and Deng did not engage in other fraudulent activities, his act of serving Deng with a “Notice of Termination of the Labor Contract” constituted an illegal termination of the labor contract. Therefore, Deng's concealment of his involvement in the lawsuit with his former unit does not constitute fraud in the legal sense. It is illegal for the company to terminate the labor contract on this ground, and it should pay financial compensation to Deng in accordance with the law.
Similarly, because of concealing personal true circumstances, some people win and some lose.
In 2015, a company in Jinchang, Gansu signed an open-term labor contract with Zhao. In March 2017, Zhao was criminally punished for driving a motor vehicle while drunk, but failed to report it to the company and used sick leave to conceal his being investigated. The judicial authorities also failed to report the facts of criminal liability in a timely manner. In June 2021, the local public security bureau handed over a letter of transfer to the company stating that Zhao was subject to criminal punishment for dangerous driving, and the company only became aware of the relevant situation.
The company believed that Zhao committed illegal crimes during the employment period, which caused negative social impact to the employer and violated the company's rules and regulations and the labor contract between both parties. In October of that year, it made a decision to terminate Zhao's labor contract. Zhao applied for labor arbitration to request the company to revoke the decision and restore labor relations, but was rejected. Zhao filed a lawsuit, but his request was rejected in both the first and second instances.
What should be truthfully informed and should be analyzed in detail
"According to the provisions of Article 8 of the Labor Contract Law, the employer has the right to know the basic situation of the employee directly related to the labor contract, and the employee should truthfully explain it. However, the law does not specify what is related to the labor contract. The specific situations that are directly related to the basic situation need to be analyzed in detail on a case-by-case basis." said Wang Yuqi, a lawyer at Guangdong Guanghe (Changchun) Law Firm.
Wang Yuqi said that under normal circumstances, the basic information directly related to the labor contract includes the age, education, knowledge and skills, work experience, etc. of the job seeker, and there will be other focuses for different positions. If the circumstances concealed by the employee will not cause substantial obstacles to the performance of the labor contract, the employer cannot terminate the labor contract based on this, such as whether there are marriages and children, whether there have been labor disputes, etc.
In 2021, in a case represented by Wang Yuqi, the client discovered that she was pregnant three months after joining the job, and the employer terminated her labor contract on the grounds of dishonesty. It turned out that when she joined the company, the female employee had promised not to have children within two years.After the case applied for arbitration, the employer was determined to have illegally terminated the labor contract, and the two parties resolved the issue through mediation.
"Reproductive rights are basic rights granted to citizens by law. For employers to require employees to promise not to have children within a certain period of time, it in itself violates employees' reproductive rights." Wang Yuqi said.
In reality, employees commit fraud and fraud when applying for jobs, which mainly include falsifying identities, academic qualifications, and qualification certificates, falsifying work experience and positions, and concealing criminal records, non-competition obligations, and unexpired labor contracts. In judicial practice, even if an employee commits falsification of academic qualifications, work experience, etc., the employer cannot easily terminate the labor contract.
In a case decided by the Intermediate People's Court of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, in March 2015, Zhang joined a company as a regional sales manager. Six years later, the company falsified his work experience and resume information in the application registration form. Moreover, there were many falsehoods in the two-month travel expense reimbursement, and the labor relationship between the two parties was terminated. Zhang applied for arbitration and demanded that the company pay more than 200,000 yuan in compensation for illegal termination of the labor contract. The court ruled that the company should pay more than 168,000 yuan in compensation.
The court found that Zhang did indeed falsify part of his work experience, but the labor relationship between the two parties lasted for more than 6 years, during which Zhang was awarded the title of Outstanding Salesperson and the "2015-2020 Long Service Award" medal. The falsification of work experience is very harmful to both parties. The performance of the labor contract has not had any adverse effects, and it cannot be considered a serious violation of the company's rules and regulations. At the same time, the company made many falsehoods in the reimbursement of Zhang’s travel expenses and failed to provide sufficient evidence, nor did it actually pay the relevant reimbursements, which constituted an illegal termination of the labor contract.
The employer cannot arbitrarily expand the scope of the right to know
What can be concealed from employees during their job search or work process? Where is the boundary between corporate employment management rights and employees’ privacy rights?
Recently, the Shanghai High Court issued two cases of employees concealing their criminal records when joining the company. In one case, the company terminated the labor relationship with the employee because he failed to truthfully inform him of his criminal record when he joined the company. The labor arbitration supported the employee's request that the company pay the illegal termination of labor. Claims for relationship damages.
The judge stated that the employee’s obligation to truthfully inform does not mean that the employee must proactively disclose criminal records to the employer, but rather that the employee should not deliberately conceal relevant criminal circumstances. Except for positions that are prohibited from employment under criminal penalties as clearly stipulated by law, employees will have the obligation to truthfully inform only when the employer makes inquiries or explicit requirements. This is also to maintain the balance between citizens' equal employment rights and the employer's right to know. balance. In situations where the law does not clearly stipulate occupational prohibitions, workers’ employment rights should be given priority.
If the employee conceals criminal records, qualifications for special operations, etc. that are directly related to the performance of the labor contract, and the employer expresses its intention to conclude a labor contract based on trust, and the employee commits fraud, the labor contract will be invalid or partially invalid. However, if the labor contract is confirmed to be invalid and the employee has already worked, the employer should still pay relevant labor remuneration to the employee.
"According to Article 1032 of the Civil Code, natural persons enjoy the right to privacy." Wang Yuqi said that employers should pay attention to respecting and protecting the privacy of workers and cannot arbitrarily expand the scope of their right to know and workers' obligation to inform. She suggested that on the one hand, workers should fulfill their obligation to truthfully inform employers in accordance with the principle of good faith; on the other hand, employers should also constantly improve the company's management system and conduct inspections and verifications during recruitment to avoid unnecessary labor disputes. .
Liu Shanshan Peng Bing
