Accidental Injury to Colleague at Dinner Leads to Dismissal; Court Rules Employer's Termination Unlawful

　　Professionals point out that mistakes in life and mistakes at work cannot be conflated

　　Does a private dinner among employees count as company team-building? Is it an extension of the workplace? If, during a dinner, an employee insults, verbally abuses, or injures a colleague, can the employer terminate the labor relationship on the grounds of serious violation of discipline?

　　A promotion and raise is a happy occasion, and good news naturally should be shared with family and friends. After Li Bingkun (pseudonym) was appointed by the company as regional manager, he invited colleagues to dinner that same day after work hours to celebrate.

　　Unexpectedly, due to alcohol-induced impulsiveness, he accidentally injured his direct supervisor. For this reason, the company revoked his appointment on the grounds of serious violation of discipline and also terminated his labor contract. Recently, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court made a final ruling that the company's termination constituted an unlawful termination of the labor relationship and ordered it to pay Li Bingkun compensation for unlawful termination of the labor relationship.

　　Accidentally Injuring Supervisor Leads to Termination of Labor Relationship

　　In October 2018, after joining a company, Li Bingkun had been working outside Beijing. Through years of effort, Li Bingkun rose from an ordinary store clerk all the way to regional manager for Central China. To celebrate his promotion and raise, Li Bingkun invited his direct supervisor Ma, newly hired colleague Zhang, and others to dine at a restaurant near the company at 9 p.m. that evening.

　　After the meal began, everyone drank and chatted in a very harmonious atmosphere. The newly hired Zhang raised his glass: "Brother Li, here's a toast to you." Li Bingkun said: "As a newcomer, you have to drink with each of the old employees one by one!" Supervisor Ma took Zhang's glass and poured the liquor into Li Bingkun's glass, saying: "He's new, so you drink a round on his behalf." Li Bingkun said with a smile: "That doesn't count, he has to do it himself." Hearing this, Ma felt he had lost face, so he reprimanded Li Bingkun and demanded that Li address him as "Grandpa." Out of deference to his supervisor, Li Bingkun called Ma "Grandpa," but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Combined with the effect of alcohol, he then got into an argument with another colleague and, in a fit of anger, picked up a bone dish and threw it at that colleague. Unexpectedly, the bone dish flew off course and struck supervisor Ma's nose. Ma immediately sought medical treatment and called the police.

　　"I invited my colleagues to dinner to build rapport and help the new employee integrate into the company family as soon as possible, but I accidentally injured supervisor Ma and made him lose face. I am willing to accept all kinds of punishment..." After the incident, Li Bingkun immediately sent WeChat messages to other company leaders explaining the cause and course of the incident.

　　The company leader replied: "No matter how long you have worked in the company, you have caused facial injury to a colleague in this incident, and that is a fact. Whether he can recover well later, no one knows, so compensation and dismissal are the company's decision."

　　One week after the incident, Li Bingkun received a notice of termination of the labor contract mailed by the company, stating that Li Bingkun had invited some employees to dinner in his personal capacity, and after drinking had behaved improperly, insulted and verbally abused employees, thrown things and hit employees, and most seriously, had struck Ma with a bone dish, causing serious consequences of injury to Ma. Accordingly, the company decided to terminate the labor relationship with Li Bingkun.

　　Does This Constitute a Serious Violation of Company Rules and Regulations?

　　Two months after the incident, the public security organ issued an administrative penalty decision regarding Li Bingkun's accidental injury to another person during the dinner, imposing a five-day administrative detention for intentional injury.

　　Under the double blow of losing his job and being detained, Li Bingkun applied for labor dispute arbitration, requesting a ruling that the company pay him compensation for unlawful termination of the labor relationship. During the arbitration hearing, the company stated that the basis for dismissing Li Bingkun was the labor contract provision that if an employee has a direct conflict with a company employee or client, affecting the company's operating order, internal unity, or company image, it constitutes a serious violation of company rules and regulations, and the company may terminate the labor contract. The arbitration institution held that the company's existing evidence was insufficient to prove that Li Bingkun's conduct affected the company's operating order, internal unity, or company image, and therefore ruled in support of Li Bingkun's arbitration request.

　　Dissatisfied with the arbitration award, the company filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Daxing District People's Court, claiming that Li Bingkun's dinner that evening was company team-building and still within working hours, and should be regarded as an extension of the workplace. The company's Employee Handbook provides: "Within the company, causing trouble, fighting, brawling, excessive drinking, or intimidating or threatening the personal safety of others, causing serious consequences or adverse effects, constitutes a serious violation of company rules and regulations, and the company may terminate the labor contract without paying compensation or damages." Therefore, the company lawfully terminated Li Bingkun's labor relationship and had no obligation to pay compensation. In this case, Li Bingkun's dinner that evening was company team-building and still within working hours, and should be regarded as an extension of the workplace.

　　The Daxing District People's Court held that this dinner was decided by Li Bingkun personally as to the invitees, time, and place, and he never asked the company for reimbursement. 9 p.m. was already beyond Li Bingkun's usual working hours, and Li Bingkun was indeed not performing his own work duties. Moreover, the company expressly stated in the notice of termination that Li Bingkun had invited some employees to gather in his personal capacity, so this dinner should not be regarded as company team-building, nor did the company's internal rules apply. Given that the company's termination of the labor relationship was unlawful, the Daxing District People's Court ruled to dismiss all of the company's claims.

　　The company was dissatisfied with the judgment and appealed. After trial, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court held that the original trial had found the facts clearly and applied the law correctly, and therefore ruled to dismiss the appeal and uphold the original judgment.

　　Mistakes at Work and Mistakes in Life Cannot Be Conflated

　　Wu Lijun, a lawyer at Beijing Qianjun Law Firm and a member of the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions' Model Worker Legal Service Team, believes that under Article 39 of the Labor Contract Law, if an employee seriously violates the employer's rules and regulations, the employer may terminate the labor contract.

　　Wu Lijun explained that in this case, although Li Bingkun's conduct was inappropriate, it is still necessary to further consider the time, place, cause, and impact of his conduct in order to determine whether it constituted a violation of the employer's rules and regulations and whether it reached the level of a serious violation. In fact, Li Bingkun's dispute with and accidental injury of a colleague occurred after work, the location was not the workplace, the atmosphere of the dinner among colleagues was private and relaxed, the incident arose from inappropriate drunken remarks among colleagues and was unrelated to work, and the scope of impact was limited to those participating in the dinner. Li Bingkun's conduct did not cause serious adverse effects on the company's operating order, internal unity, or company image, and the company's dismissal of Li Bingkun was overly harsh.

　　"Terminating a labor contract has a very significant impact on an employee and is a very severe punitive measure. It affects not only the employee's economic interests, including whether there is economic compensation or damages, but also the employee's professional reputation and future re-employment. Therefore, the penalty of terminating a labor contract should adhere to the principle of prudence and the principle of last resort, and should be adopted only when all other management measures have been exhausted and the labor relationship still cannot be performed normally." Wu Lijun also stated that only by standardizing employment and employing workers lawfully, and protecting workers' lawful rights and interests, can employers attract and motivate workers, keep them in a good working state, create a positive and united working atmosphere, and build harmonious labor relations to further enhance the company's core competitiveness, so that employers and workers can jointly achieve development goals.