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recently, a labor dispute case in which a kindergarten principal in chongqing was fired for "accepting" chocolates from students has sparked widespread heated discussion.

▲photo courtesy of tuchong creative

according to the chongqing national radio network on august 31, wang mouxian (pseudonym), the former principal of the three gorges kindergarten in jiulongpo district, chongqing, was dismissed for "accepting" a box of chocolates worth 6.16 yuan from students on the eve of teachers' day in 2023. the kindergarten determined that she violated the provisions of the ministry of education's [2014] no. 4 "prohibition of teachers from illegal acceptance of gifts and cash from students and parents" and issued a notice. wang mouxian was dissatisfied with this and took the kindergarten to court. on march 28 this year, the jiulongpo district people's court of chongqing city ruled that the kindergarten lost the case in the first instance, and the case was recently upheld in the second instance.

red star news reporter learned about the first trial process of the case from the china trial public network. the court released a video of the parent meeting on september 16, 2023. in the video, many parents complained for wang mouxian and asked the kindergarten to explain the dismissal of wang mouxian. some parents said that the chocolate was distributed to parents and other children. wang mouxian's side stated that the video showed that the chocolate was given by students on teacher's day to express holiday blessings and thank the teacher for his hard work. wang mouxian only accepted the blessings and shared them with other children and parents. the kindergarten did not recognize wang mouxian's defense and stated that as the principal, he must abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the ministry of education and the rules and regulations of the kindergarten.

during the trial, whether the three gorges kindergarten constituted an illegal termination was the focus of controversy in this case. the jiulongpo district people's court of chongqing city believed that it can be seen from the surveillance in this case that the child gave a box of chocolates to wang mouxian in a public place at the entrance of the kindergarten, and then the two sides hugged each other, expressed gratitude, and the child left happily. for kindergarten children, the psychology of giving a piece of chocolate is simple and innocent, and there is no subjective intention to exchange interests. it is different from giving gifts and property such as securities or payment vouchers. it is not appropriate to characterize this behavior as accepting gifts and cash gifts from students and parents, and it is impossible to determine that wang mouxian used his position to seek personal gain through improper means. even if the kindergarten believes that wang mouxian's acceptance of snacks from children is inappropriate, considering the value of the snacks and the fact that wang mouxian shared the snacks with other children and parents, his behavior did not reach the level of serious dereliction of duty and favoritism, nor did it exceed the standard of ordinary kind people and the normal tolerance of the public.

in summary, the practice of the three gorges kindergarten to strictly implement the relevant regulations of the ministry of education is worthy of recognition, but at the same time, as an educational institution, the kindergarten should exercise its employment management rights in a tolerant and reasonable manner, and should follow the principle of proportionality in the termination of the contract. the punishment of employees should be commensurate with their disciplinary violations, and should be legitimate and reasonable. the three gorges kindergarten argued that it had a job transfer talk with wang mouxian and adjusted her back to a small class as a teacher or to another kindergarten, but when the two parties failed to reach an agreement, it did not give her a chance to correct her mistakes, nor did it explain it. the exercise of the right to terminate was obviously not prudent enough. the court determined that the termination of the three gorges kindergarten was an illegal termination and that it should pay compensation to wang mouxian. in the end, the court determined that the three gorges kindergarten should make up the difference in the principal's salary and pay more than 70,000 yuan in compensation for the illegal termination of the contract.

on september 1, a teacher at the kindergarten told red star news that the kindergarten had changed its owner and the original investor in the case had recently transferred the kindergarten.

red star news reporter zhu bisheng luo danni