According to a report by the Workers' Daily: In the past six months of working, the live broadcast income was only more than 3,000 yuan. However, due to insufficient live broadcast time, he was asked to compensate 1 million yuan, and was eventually compensated 30,000 yuan. This tortuous experience made Wang Yue completely give up the idea of continuing to be an online anchor.
Currently, the number of online live broadcast users in my country has exceeded 800 million. As market demand continues to grow, online anchors have become a career choice for more and more people. As the number of people working in the industry continues to grow, disputes between anchors and entertainment companies are also increasing. The determination of live broadcast duration and the resulting dispute over high liquidated damages have become the focus of controversy. Even in the contracts provided by some mcn agencies (agencies that specialize in providing services to online video creators), the terms regarding live broadcast duration and liquidated damages may contain hidden traps.
was claimed 1 million yuan for not broadcasting for enough time
(Photo source: Xinhuanet)
"It is almost an impossible task to meet the live broadcast duration required by the contract." Xiaoxin, an online anchor who has just joined the industry, told reporters that where he is The mcn organization requires some anchors to live broadcast at least 26 days a month, and the "effective live broadcast duration" must be 130 hours.
Bian Siyu, who once served as a part-time online anchor, said that when calculating the live broadcast duration, some MCN organizations do not directly count the absolute duration of the live broadcast of the online anchor, but include the number of viewers, the number of interactions, the amount of rewards and other indicators into the statistics. "Only The "valid live broadcast duration" must meet certain standards. Usually the live broadcast lasts for 4 hours, and only 2 hours is considered valid. "
" Not only that, but the working hours such as equipment debugging, short video shooting, training and learning before and after the live broadcast are generally not allowed. "Be included in the live broadcast time." Xiaoxin said that according to the organization's requirements, it seems that the average live broadcast is 5 hours a day, but in fact it may take more than ten hours of work. "It's common to stay up late to broadcast and work for many hours continuously. In the long run, the body simply can't bear it."
What makes Xiaoxin even more unacceptable is that because he failed to broadcast for the agreed-upon time, he was unable to receive a guaranteed salary to maintain his daily life. , after voluntarily terminating the contract, the mcn agency demanded high compensation: "I worked for more than two months and my monthly income was less than 3,000 yuan, but I was compensated 200,000 yuan in liquidated damages!"
The contract signed by Wang Yue , the live broadcast duration was also clearly agreed upon. As the company's anchor, Wang Yue's live broadcast duration standards are: 6 hours of live broadcast time per day, no less than 150 hours of effective live broadcast per month, and no less than 26 days of broadcasting. Otherwise, Wang Yue will be deemed to have seriously breached the contract.
Wang Yue made a request to the company to cancel the contract on the grounds that she was unwell and unable to withstand high-intensity work, and there were a large number of unequal clauses in the contract, but her request was rejected by the company.
has been working for nearly half a year. In fact, the total income Wang Yue received was only 3,725 yuan. In stark contrast, the contract signed by both parties stated that if Wang Yue breached the contract, the company would need to pay a liquidated damages of 2 million yuan. The company applied for arbitration after determining that Wang Yue had breached the contract, claiming that it had suffered actual losses and required Wang Yue to compensate him for liquidated damages of 1 million yuan.
Because the company did not provide relevant evidence that it suffered actual losses, the arbitration committee ruled that the standard clauses in the contract were invalid and decided that Wang Yue should pay liquidated damages of 30,000 yuan to the company.
(Photo source: Xinhuanet)
There is also a college anchor who was claimed for 80 million yuan
In December last year, Luo Li was on the hot search: "The female college student who was claimed by XX platform for 80 million yuan." She is the protagonist among them.
Liu Xin, who has provided legal consulting services to mcn organizations, told reporters that although not every case is that large, his company handles 300 to 400 dispute cases between mcn organizations and anchors every month, most of which They are college anchors. They were claimed by the organization for high liquidated damages due to breach of contract. During the interview,
reporters found that for college student anchors, the length of live broadcasts and signing contracts may contain hidden traps. College students who are inexperienced in the world lack social experience and can easily become targets of breach of contract claims pursued by mcn organizations and associations.Experts interviewed by
pointed out that it is urgent to improve the quality of practitioners in the live broadcast industry. It is necessary to provide regular vocational training to relevant persons in charge of MCN organizations and standardize the rules for determining the duration of live broadcasts; at the same time, it is necessary to strengthen employment guidance for college students to avoid unnecessary disputes.
High liquidated damages are not protected by law
There are many similar cases. Jimu News reporter noted that the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court had previously heard similar cases.
Li signed an agreement with a media company in Huadu District, Guangzhou City, stipulating that the cooperation period between the two parties is two years. Li’s “average daily duration of performing arts live broadcasts on the Internet performing arts platform shall not be less than 6 hours per month. The number of days for performing arts live broadcasts on the performing arts platform shall not be less than 26 days. ""If one party unilaterally proposes to terminate this agreement or fails to perform the obligations required by this agreement without reason (one month is the period), it shall compensate the other party for liquidated damages of 200,000 yuan." Later, Li stopped working due to illness. For this reason, the media company took Li to court and required Li to pay liquidated damages of 200,000 yuan.
Although the two parties agreed that if one party breaches the contract, it should pay liquidated damages of 200,000 yuan to the other party. However, the court held that the company’s losses were mainly due to its investment in Li and the expected benefits from both parties’ continued performance of the contract. In this case, the company’s investment in the defendant was not significant. At the same time, the amount of benefits the company expected to obtain depended on many factors, including the company’s brokerage capabilities, resources, anchor qualifications and even opportunities, industry development, etc., which Strong uncertainty.
Li is not suitable to engage in the performing arts activities involved in the case for a long time due to illness. Based on the principles of fairness and good faith, and taking into account the nature of the contract involved, investment costs, performance, losses caused by breach of contract and other factors, the plaintiff claimed that the liquidated damages of RMB 200,000 were obviously too high. The court of first instance ruled that Li should pay liquidated damages of 20,000 yuan. The company was dissatisfied and appealed to the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, which was rejected and the original judgment was upheld. Judge
pointed out that in this case, Li indeed committed a breach of contract, but the company claimed that the liquidated damages of 200,000 yuan was obviously too high. Although the two parties had agreed on a liquidated damages clause in the agreement, the agreement violated the principles of fairness and good faith. Not protected by law.
Xue Jun, a professor at Peking University Law School, said in an interview that the amount of liquidated damages should be determined by comprehensively considering the cost of the mcn organization and conducting a scientific and accurate business valuation. "We cannot place unreasonable burdens on those who cannot bear it." on the workers”.
Experts suggest that the working hours of live broadcasts should be clarified
"It is reasonable to set live broadcast duration rules, but the main controversy in practice is that the calculation and evidence rules for this duration are not clear." Professor Scope of the School of Labor Economics at Capital University of Economics and Business said, Unreasonable "effective live broadcast duration" rules are the main way some mcn organizations infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of online anchors.
"It is obviously unreasonable to count the live broadcast duration based on uncertain factors such as the number of viewers, and it is very detrimental to network anchors." Regarding the setting of the live broadcast duration, Xue Jun, a professor at Peking University Law School, suggested that both parties should specify the live broadcast duration in the contract For specific calculation rules, it is best to use objective factors such as "actual broadcast time" as the standard.
"Clearly clarifying the legal relationship between the two parties is the key to solving the problem of unreasonable live broadcast duration mechanism and high liquidated damages." Xue Jun said that if it is a labor relationship, it is protected by labor law, and rules such as working hours and liquidated damages should be set. Comply with labor laws and regulations.
"Relevant management departments can issue corresponding guidelines to clarify the basic rules for calculating working hours in the network anchor industry." The scope also suggests that special laws and regulations can be formulated, or targeted guidelines can be issued to regulate the relationship between MCN organizations and network anchors. The legal relationship attributes are clarified. In addition, industry self-discipline should be strengthened and common rules should be formulated to avoid vicious competition within the industry.
All the articles are pseudonyms
Political and Legal Channel Source: Jimu News, Workers Daily, Rule of Law Daily, Yangtze Evening News
