https://thenextweb.com/news/china-court-ai-layoffs-illegal-labor-law
"A quality assurance supervisor identified only as Zhou joined a technology
company in Hangzhou in November 2022. His job was to work with AI large
language models, optimising their outputs and filtering sensitive content. He
earned 25,000 yuan per month, roughly $3,640. In 2024, the company decided that
its AI systems had improved to the point where Zhou’s role could be automated.
It reassigned him to a lower-level position with a 40 per cent pay cut,
reducing his salary to 15,000 yuan. Zhou refused. The company fired him. Zhou
filed for arbitration. The arbitration panel ruled the dismissal unlawful. The
company appealed. The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court upheld the ruling.
The court found that a company’s decision to adopt AI is a strategic business
choice, not an unforeseeable change in objective circumstances, and therefore
does not qualify as legal grounds for termination under China’s
Labour
Contract Law. The company was ordered to pay compensation. The ruling,
published this week, is the second Chinese court decision in six months to
establish the same principle: you cannot fire a worker in China simply because
an AI can now do their job."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
