Judicial rulings have been used to safeguard the "right to offline rest" enjoyed by workers. This has sample significance for workers to break free from the "invisible overtime" of the digital age and promote legislation to grant them the "right to offline rest". This year's work report from the Beijing Higher People's Court mentioned a case of "invisible overtime" involving the use of social media platforms such as WeChat. It is reported that this is the first case in China where the issue of "invisible overtime" is explicitly stated in the judgment document, and the right of workers to "offline rest" is protected. In the digital age, the traditional concept of physical space in the workplace has been broken. Except for employees who have signed labor contracts with employers to decide their work and rest time independently, many workers become blurred due to work hours and cannot escape the "invisible overtime" provided by employers using social media. How to handle such labor disputes in the judiciary, clarify the concepts, situations, scope, and confirmation standards of off-site overtime and non-traditional overtime in the digital age, undoubtedly tests the wisdom of the judiciary. The key to confirming that workers are working overtime during non working hours is whether they provide a certain amount of substantive labor during this period. Employers require employees to complete tasks such as clocking in, filling out forms, reporting, communication, and meetings outside of working hours, essentially allowing employees to work. This type of labor situation should be recognized as overtime. According to the Labor Law, if an employee undertakes work added by the employer using digital tools during non working hours, the employer shall pay overtime wages to the employee in accordance with the law. This is a rigid requirement to ensure the right of workers to rest. One important reason why workers find it difficult to escape the "invisible overtime" of the digital age is that they do not have the legal "offline rest right". The so-called "offline rest right" refers to the right of workers to refuse to use digital tools to handle related work matters during non working hours, except as stipulated by law or agreement, and shall not be subjected to adverse treatment as a result. Given that China has not yet granted workers the right to offline rest in accordance with the law, it is difficult to effectively curb the use of digital tools by employers to force workers to work "invisible overtime". Judiciary is the last line of defense to maintain social fairness and justice, and it is necessary to provide practical examples for solving problems through the handling of individual cases. The case announced by the Beijing High Court has protected the "right to offline rest" of workers through judicial trials, creatively proposing the principles of "providing substantive work" and "obvious occupation of time" as the criteria for identifying the issue of "invisible overtime". It conforms to the changes in labor forms in the digital era and provides a reference sample for preventing workers from suffering from "invisible overtime" and regulating the overtime behavior of employers. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Jia jia Responsible editor：Zhoushu
Source：http://rmfyb.chinacourt.org
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