An employee in China had reportedly used his medical leave to go on holiday with his child and ended up being terminated by the company for misusing his medical leave.
He was also ordered to pay back the 620,000 yuan (or SGD$116,000) that he received from the company as compensation after being fired.
The man, Mr Xu, was fired by his company for dishonesty and fraud after missing his medical leave to travel to Hainan with his child for a holiday.
A tribunal court had initially ruled in favour of Xu but following that hearing, another court in Beijing has since ruled that the company had the right to terminate his employment, and he has been ordered to pay back the compensation amount to his former company.
The National Business Daily reported that Xu first applied for annual leave, wanting to take leave from the end of July to the middle of August back in 2019.
His leave request was rejected by the company even though he had told his manager that he had already bought flight tickets and was planning to take his child on holiday.
The company told him that they needed him for an important project, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Following that, Xu then took medical leave in July for 2 weeks, saying that he had a headache and a back condition that was serious, and his medical leave was then approved by the company.
Later in August, Xu was then questioned by his manager who asked him about his whereabouts during his medical leave while he was supposed to be at home resting.
Xu then lied to his manager and said that he was at his home in Beijing, and the manager then revealed that one of his co-workers had seen him at the airport in Hainan.
Xu was then fired a few days later, with the company citing that he had breached their trust in him, and it then led to a legal battle between the two for years.
Xu approached a labour tribunal for help after being fired and the tribunal the deemed his company as having gone against the labour laws and had to pay him 620,000 yuan (or SGD$116,000) as compensation.
The company then filed an appeal at the Chaoyang District Court and the original ruling of the tribunal was then overturned, and Xu then responded by filing a counter appeal saying that he didn’t cheat his former company.
In his explanation, Xu claimed that he had travelled to Hainan to recover from his health problems because he had a flat there. However, the district court upheld their decision, saying that by travelling, Xu had already disregarded his doctor’s order to rest in bed.
He was then ordered to pay back the compensation amount that he received back to the company.