Firm ordered to pay 75,000 yuan for firing employee after he took time off work for his father's funeral without approval

A man from Anhui Province was fired after he took time off work for his father’s funeral without the company’s approval.

Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court has now upheld a decision that the company should pay him over 75,000 yuan (US$11,580) in damages.

Wang was a member of the security staff at a logistics company in Shanghai. On January 6 last year, he heard that his father was very ill. He submitted the application to the director, asking for leave until January 13, the court said.

A day later, when he was on his way home, he was told his application had been rejected. After he decided to go back to work, he got the news that his father had died.

He spent several days arranging the funeral in Anhui and returned to work on January 15. At the end of the month, he was sacked.

The company considered that the period of leave he had asked for was a total of nine 9 days, with three days of rest. Chinese law states that people have three days for bereavement leave. So the man abstained from work for three days.

According to the company’s bylaws, if an employee is absent from work three days or more, they will be fired.

After an investigation, the courts found that because of the company’s delay, Wang received the information that his application was not approved on January 7, one day after the man presented the document. Therefore, January 6 could not be considered as the man’s absent day and he had not broken the company’s rules.

The company lost the lawsuit and appealed against the conviction.

Recently, the city’s intermediate court supported the original decision and said that the company should understand and sympathize with employees when they suffer misfortune.