China – According to media reports, the Guangdong Zhuhai Intermediate Court made a final judgment on a labour dispute case in which an employee was fired for dozing off. In June 2019, Xiaoyi was fired by a company that had worked for 7 years on the grounds that she dozed off on night shifts and refused to pay compensation.
The company said that Xiaoyi fell asleep in the early morning for 4 days, seriously violating the company’s rules and regulations. Xiaoyi said that dozing occurred at four or five in the morning, and the sleeping intervals were short, and it was a normal physiological need of a pregnant woman.Â
She fell asleep 4 times in her overnight shift and each time she fall asleep was between 6 mins to 28 mins long.
Xiaoyi filed a labour arbitration, and the arbitrator ruled that the company should pay 48,146 yuan in compensation for the illegal termination of the labour contract.Â
The company refused to accept the lawsuit and filed a lawsuit with the Xiangzhou District Court. The court found that it was an illegal termination and needed to pay compensation. The company refused to accept the judgment and appealed to the Zhuhai Intermediate Court.
Pregnant
Xiaoyi is in the early stage of pregnancy, which is a special physiological stage. There are physical and objective reasons for dozing off.Â
The Zhuhai Intermediate Court determined that Xiaoyi did not constitute a serious violation of discipline and rejected the company’s appeal, and the company had to pay 48,146 yuan in compensation, Which is about SGD$10,291