China considers making bosses pay workers for online ‘invisible overtime’

The CPPCC, which ended its weeklong annual meeting on Sunday, did not independently confirm the decision.

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The issue was also raised on Friday by the president of the Supreme People’s Court, who highlighted such “invisible overtime” in his work report to the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature.

As in many countries, it has become increasingly common for people in China to reply to after-hours work-related messages on instant messaging apps like WeChat, and handle work on their phones during days off.

Zhang said a person was considered to be working overtime if they “contributed substantive labour” to tasks that “evidently consume time” – a definition that included staying online.

“The standards guarantee that online [overtime] work is rewarded and offline rest is protected,” he said.

China’s courts have weighed a number of cases involving online overtime payments in recent years, including one cited by the supreme court as a model for other judiciaries to follow.

The case involved the director of a short video team, surnamed Li, who sued their employer for unpaid overtime after being laid off in 2020, according to details released jointly by the supreme court, the human resources ministry and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

A lower court concluded that the time Li spent on WeChat for work messages during their time off should also be “considered” when calculating overtime compensation. But the supreme court admitted that the time spent was “scattered and difficult to calculate”.

The statement did not identify the plaintiff or where the case took place.

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Lou Yu, director of the Social Law Institute at China University of Political Science and Law, said it was very likely that rules would be formulated to regulate online overtime.

“This is a very prominent labour and employment issue at present, and [the proposal] was recognised by different sectors,” he said.

But it will take at least two years to formulate a ministry-level regulation and “even longer” for a law under the State Council, the Chinese cabinet.

However, some doubted the immediate benefits of such regulations.

In a wave of comments under the news on Chinese social media site Weibo, one user said: “Can we first implement [regulations] on weekends?”

“Legislation and implementation are two separate matters,” echoed another.