Company fires employee for sleeping at work, later pays him

A Chinese man named Zhang was sacked after surveillance footage showed him napping at his desk during working hours. The employee had been working with the chemical company in Taixing, Jiangsu province, for more than 20 years as department manager.
The company’s human resources (HR) department issued a report two weeks after the napping incident, SCMP reported. The document alleged that Zhang had been “caught sleeping at work due to exhaustion.”
A viral conversation between the employee and an HR staff member revealed that Zhang had slept for almost an hour in the office. The firm issued a formal dismissal notice after consulting with the labour union. It alleged that Zhang’s behaviour was a violation of the company’s strict zero-tolerance discipline policy.
The notice stated, “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,” SCMP reported. The notice further mentioned that the company decided to terminate Zhang’s employment with the union’s approval.
It added, “The company has decided to terminate your employment, ending all labour relations between you and the company.”
Considering this dismissal notice to be unjust, Zhang took legal action against the firm. Notably, the employee was involved in a work-related drive that extended until midnight, a night before the day he was found sleeping at work.
The court observed that employers’ right to terminate contracts must meet certain conditions, such as causing significant loss to the company. It decreed that sleeping on the job was a “first-time offence and did not result in serious harm to the company.” It acknowledged the employee’s outstanding service as indicated by promotions and salary increases.
The court ruled that a single incident of infraction was excessive and not a valid reason to terminate him. Thus, the company was made to pay its former employee 350,000 yuan ( ₹41.6 lakh) in compensation.