Maternity Leave and Bonus Leave Reduced by 95 Days, Female Employee Wins Case Against Company

This article is reprinted from: Southern Workers’ Daily

Maternity leave and reward leave combined reduced by 95 days; female employee wins lawsuit against company

Court orders the company to pay full wages and economic compensation

Full media reporter Wang Yan, correspondent Yuan Xiaoyan, Chen Jinbo

■AI Illustration

News from this paper (Full media reporter Wang Yan, correspondent Yuan Xiaoyan, Chen Jinbo): Recently, the Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court settled a labor dispute case, ruling that the company must pay the female employee the difference in maternity leave wages and economic compensation, legally safeguarding the rights of female workers.

Ms. Luo is an employee at the Dongguan branch of Kuai Company (hereinafter referred to as “Dongguan Branch”), and both parties have signed a written labor contract. In early April 2023, Ms. Luo underwent a cesarean section and gave birth to two children. The medical diagnosis certificate indicated a difficult labor leave. According to Article 30 of the Guangdong Population and Family Planning Regulations and Article 11 of the Guangdong Implementation Measures for the “Special Provisions on the Labor Protection of Female Employees,” Ms. Luo is legally entitled to a total of 223 days of maternity and reward leave. However, her company only approved 128 days of maternity leave. During her leave, Ms. Luo repeatedly applied for reward leave and maternity leave, but HR informed her that the company had no reward leave policy and refused approval, only allowing unpaid personal leave. Later, Ms. Luo applied for 36 days of personal leave.

During her maternity leave, Dongguan Branch only paid her maternity leave wages and did not pay wages for reward leave. After returning to work at Dongguan Branch on October 23, 2023, Ms. Luo repeatedly requested payment for reward leave wages, but was refused.

On June 30, 2024, Ms. Luo submitted a “Notice of Forced Termination of Employment Contract” to the company, citing unpaid maternity wages and other issues as reasons for terminating her employment contract. After labor arbitration and first-instance proceedings, Ms. Luo filed a lawsuit with the Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court.

The Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court, after review, held that based on the medical diagnosis certificate, birth medical certificate, and relevant regulations, Ms. Luo was entitled to a total of 223 days of maternity and reward leave, and the company should pay wages for all these days. Dongguan Branch’s failure to pay reward leave wages to Ms. Luo was a case of unpaid labor remuneration.

The court ordered Dongguan Branch to pay Ms. Luo the wage difference for maternity leave, reward leave wages, and economic compensation for forced termination. Kuai Company is also liable for supplementary payment of the debts owed by Dongguan Branch.

The presiding judge, Chen Jinbo, stated that improving the maternity protection system is an important support for optimizing the population structure, and effectively safeguarding female employees’ reproductive rights is a key link. China has established a maternity protection system centered on the “Social Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China” and the “Special Provisions on the Labor Protection of Female Employees.” Enterprises should actively fulfill their social responsibilities, consciously protect the legal rights of female employees during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding, thereby stabilizing the workforce and creating a good corporate image.