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da wan news "all partners are prohibited from driving or riding motorcycles in any occasion" "if they still drive or ride motorcycles privately, the company has the right to terminate their labor contracts." recently, an internal notice from holiland caused controversy after being circulated on social platforms. on september 16, holiland customer service staff told da wan news reporters that the company had recently had many employees injured by riding motorcycles, and one employee even died as a result. the above notice was issued for employee safety considerations, and no employee was fired for this reason. the company will communicate with employees in a more peaceful way in the future. the lawyer said that the company's practice of prohibiting employees from riding or buying motorcycles during their personal rest periods and terminating their labor contracts for this reason does not comply with relevant legal provisions.

cause: employees may be fired for riding motorcycles?

recently, a notice on social media showing that holiland prohibited its employees from driving or riding motorcycles attracted attention.

da wan news reporter noticed that the company shown on the notice is holiland enterprise investment management co., ltd., and the release date is september 14, 2024. the notice stated, "recently, a partner in the market died in an accident while driving a motorcycle on the highway during his break." "in order to prevent similar accidents from happening and improve the safety awareness of all partners, the company once again emphasizes and requires all cities to conduct self-inspections and prohibit all partners from driving or riding motorcycles on any occasion."

the notice also stated, "if the relevant person in charge of each city finds that there are partners driving motorcycles or have already purchased motorcycles, please persuade them in time and ask them to dispose of the motorcycles. if a partner insists on refusing to deal with it, or if it is found that a partner still drives or rides a motorcycle privately, the company has the right to terminate the labor contract with him."

the company has attracted the attention of netizens, and some have questioned, "does the company have the right to interfere with whether employees ride motorcycles during their rest time?" and "is it illegal to terminate a labor contract because of riding a motorcycle?"

company: we will communicate with employees in a more peaceful way

on september 16, a holiland customer service staff member told da wan news reporters that after verification, the company issued an internal notice because of the recent frequent traffic accidents caused by motorcycles. the company wanted to strengthen employees' safety awareness and improve travel safety. the staff member said that the company had previously advocated that employees avoid riding motorcycles as much as possible and recommended public transportation such as buses and subways. however, the company has recently had many cases of employees being injured due to riding motorcycles. "the most serious one recently was that an employee unfortunately passed away due to this. the company and colleagues are very sad and upset, so we issued a notice with relatively harsh words."

the staff member further explained that although the company issued such a notice, from beginning to end, no employee of the company had his or her employment contract terminated for riding a motorcycle. the purpose of the notice was just to ensure the safety of employees' travel. "next, the company will communicate with employees in a more peaceful way and with persuasive tips."

lawyer: companies have no right to excessively interfere with employees' driving of motorcycles during non-working hours

employees are prohibited from riding motorcycles under any circumstances, and violators may even be fired. is the company's notice reasonable? zhang xinyu, associate professor of the law school of beijing technology and business university, said that although the company is for the purpose of protecting the personal safety of employees, whether to drive a motorcycle during non-working hours is a personal freedom of employees, and the company has no right to excessively interfere. moreover, employees driving motorcycles does not meet the statutory circumstances stipulated in the labor contract law that employers can terminate labor contracts.

"the employer's attitude of attaching importance to employee safety is worthy of recognition, but the employer shall not arbitrarily set conditions to unilaterally terminate the labor contract. employees riding motorcycles during non-working hours does not meet the statutory circumstances under which the employer can unilaterally terminate the labor contract as stipulated in the labor contract law." meng bo, a lawyer at beijing jingshi law firm, introduced that article 39 of the labor contract law stipulates the circumstances under which the employer can unilaterally terminate the labor contract. the employer can terminate the labor contract if the employee is in any of the following circumstances: (1) it is proved that the employee does not meet the recruitment conditions during the probation period; (2) the employee seriously violates the rules and regulations of the employer; (3) the employee seriously neglects his duties, engages in malpractice for personal gain, and causes major damages to the employer; (4) the employee establishes a labor relationship with other employers at the same time, which has a serious impact on the completion of the work tasks of the unit, or refuses to correct it after being proposed by the employer; (5) the labor contract is invalid due to the circumstances stipulated in the first paragraph of the first item of article 26 of this law; (6) the employee is held criminally liable in accordance with the law.

"the company's practice of prohibiting employees from riding or buying motorcycles during their personal rest periods and terminating their labor contracts for this reason is obviously not in compliance with relevant laws," said sun zijian, a partner at zhejiang zhehang law firm. article 4 of the labor contract law stipulates that employers should establish and improve rules and regulations in accordance with the law to protect the rights and obligations of workers. if the company prohibits employees from buying or riding motorcycles, it is obviously excessive interference and lacks rationality if it involves the personal lives of employees, and it infringes on the employees' freedom and right to choose their lives.

lawyer sun zijian also said that the employer's unilateral termination of the labor contract must comply with the legal grounds for dismissal. if the company terminates the contract based on the employee's personal life behavior, it may not only be deemed to have violated article 39 of the labor contract law, but may even be judged to be an illegal termination. the termination of the labor contract must meet the statutory conditions, otherwise the company may bear legal liability for illegal termination of the labor contract, and the employee can request economic compensation or damages in accordance with the labor contract law.

jin lei, a lawyer (partner) at beijing heyi law firm, suggested that when formulating internal management regulations, companies must follow the basic principles of national laws and regulations to ensure that they do not infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of employees. it is recommended that companies fully listen to employees' opinions and consider their needs when formulating relevant regulations, and ensure that the regulations are legal, reasonable and in line with the company's actual situation.

da wan news reporter cao qing

edited by zhang dawei