China Considers Paying Extra Wages for “Invisible Overtime” Employees
Image credit: Chinatopix
In a recent meeting of China’s 14th National People’s Congress, Lyu Guoquan, the leader of the General Office of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, proposed the creation of a legal definition and a salary framework for “online overtime” workers – those who respond to messages and handle work-related issues outside of regular working hours.
Lyu announced on March 10 that his proposal had been approved by the Congress, and various government agencies would now discuss the idea. This discussion comes after Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court mentioned and emphasized the phenomenon of “invisible overtime” in his work report to the Chinese National People’s Congress earlier this month.
Similar to many other countries, it has become increasingly common for people in China to answer work-related messages on messaging apps like WeChat or handle work duties on their phones during their days off.
Chief Justice Zhang Jun stated that Chinese courts have been setting standards for “invisible overtime” since 2023. Zhang explained that a person is considered to be working overtime if they make significant labor contributions to tasks that obviously require extra time, including online work. He said, “The standards are put in place to ensure that online overtime work is rewarded and the resting rights of workers are protected.”
Chinese courts have considered several cases related to the payment of online overtime wages in recent years, including one case that the Supreme People’s Court deemed as a model for other judicial agencies to follow. In this case, a former employee of a media company successfully sued their former employer for requesting them to respond to work-related messages outside of working hours without providing additional compensation. After reviewing the WeChat messages and comparing them with the company’s official working hours, a local court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and ordered the company to pay overtime wages.
As the Chinese government and courts try to curb the 996 work culture (working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week) in the country, the phenomenon of “invisible overtime” has become a pressing issue for Chinese workers. A survey by the online recruitment platform 51Job in 2022 revealed that 84.7% of workers still have to check work-related messages after regular working hours.
Lou Yu, Director of the Institute of Social Law at the China University of Political Science and Law, stated that new regulations are likely to be developed to manage online overtime work. However, it will take at least two years to establish a department-level regulation and even longer for a national law.