A court in China ruled that a company must compensate a former employee after firing him for sleeping at work. The man, identified as Zhang, worked at a chemical company in Taixing, Jiangsu province. He was fired after being caught napping at his desk after working late the previous night.
Zhang had worked at the company for 20 years and had a record of good performance.He was fired after the company said he violated their policy after security footage showed him sleeping at his workstation following a work-related journey that lasted until midnight the previous evening.
A fortnight later, the HR department issued documentation noting Zhang was “caught sleeping at work due to exhaustion”, which he acknowledged with his signature. In a documented WeChat exchange, when questioned about the duration of his rest, Zhang confirmed it was “About an hour or so.”
The organisation, after consulting with the labour union, proceeded with formal termination, citing serious policy violations.
The dismissal notice read: “Comrade Zhang, you joined the company in 2004 and signed an open-ended employment contract. However, your behaviour of sleeping on the job is a serious breach of the company’s zero-tolerance discipline policy. Consequently, with the union’s approval, the company has decided to terminate your employment, ending all labour relations between you and the company.”
Zhang sued the company, arguing that the punishment was too harsh. The court agreed, stating that sleeping on the job did not harm the company. The court ordered the company to pay Zhang 350,000 yuan (Rs 40.78 lakh), as reported by the South China morning Post. The court acknowledged employers’ rights to terminate contracts for rule violations but emphasised the need for substantial damage to justify such actions. Judge Ju Qi of the Taixing People’s Court said, “Sleeping on the job was a first-time offence and did not result in serious harm to the company.”
This case has sparked debate on social media in China. Some people believe the company was too harsh in firing Zhang, while others believe he was wrong to sleep on the job. “Napping at work is indeed wrong, but the company’s actions were too harsh. If minor mistakes can lead to dismissal, it makes firing employees far too easy,” said one user. Others responded enviously, “What kind of luck is this? Waking up to find 350,000 yuan deposited in your bank account!”
