Jack Ma's 996 Work System Called Illegal

 


The 996 work system, which is widely used by Chinese technology companies and supported by Jack Ma, has also become a local concern. The Chinese government warns the system is illegal if employees are not properly compensated.

As is known, the 996 work system requires employees to work from 9 am to 9 pm for 6 days a week. This work system has been widely criticized, but has also been defended by tech bosses such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma.


China's Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Personnel and Social Security issued reports on 10 cases involving general labor disputes to remind companies to follow China's labor laws.



One of the cases involved a shipping company firing employees who refused to work under the 996 system. The work schedule was written in the company's rules but China's labor commission found the rules against the law.


The company was then ordered to pay 8,000 yuan as compensation to employees for having illegally terminated employment contracts and not offering proper compensation for overtime work.


The release of this report immediately led to speculation about whether Chinese authorities will take more stringent action against technology companies that violate labor laws. The 996 work system itself is a mainstay work system in China's technology sector, especially in beginner startups.


In some extreme cases, the 996 work system has claimed the lives of employees because the working hours are too long. Like the case of Pinduoduo e-commerce employee who was found dead in the middle of the night due to working late.


Under Chinese law, the 996 work system can still be considered legal if it is a consistent schedule. Chinese law allows for up to three hours of overtime per day, so 12-hour shifts are still legal if they include one hour of rest. But overtime in China is limited to 36 hours a month.


"So 996 is not illegal if employees get extra pay, but it can't exceed the maximum overtime hours," said Yang Chunhui, a lawyer from Beijing Yunting Law Firm, as quoted by the South China Morning Post, Monday (30/8/2021).


Although the 996 work system is still widely used, some Chinese tech giants are starting to change their work culture and reduce working hours. Like game developers Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, which is a subsidiary of Tencent, they announced a new policy requiring employees to leave before 6 pm every Wednesday.


ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and Douyin, this month discontinued the 'big week, small week' work system that required employees to work six days a week every two weeks.


But there are some employees who welcome the loose working hours coldly. Some employees complain that reduced working hours mean reduced income as overtime pay can be two to three times the normal hourly salary.

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