Affected by the epidemic, some companies are facing pressure on production and operation and may face difficulties in paying high temperature allowances. A lawyer reminded that high temperature allowances can also be negotiated on an equal footing-
The high temperature is coming, how can the high temperature allowance evaporate with the high temperature
Our reporter Li Runzhao
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At present, many places have started the grilling mode, and relevant departments have successively issued high-temperature labor protection policies. However, some companies still choose to go against the regulations and owe or even refuse to pay high temperature allowances. Faced with a monthly allowance of less than 200 yuan, employees have to calculate an economic account if they want to defend their rights.
"In Fuzhou, the high temperature allowance can be paid for up to 5 months in a year, calculated at 260 yuan per month, totaling 1,300 yuan." At 9:30 am on July 27th, Liu Tian, a garbage sorter in Jinan District, Fuzhou City, sat On the side of the road, he broke his fingers and settled accounts with reporters.
"I went to the labor department to apply for arbitration, prepare evidence, and contact a lawyer. At least a week was wasted back and forth, and my salary was about 800 yuan a week." Liu Tian still failed to persuade himself to go to the labor department for a long time. He asked the reporter back: "Toss and toss, just for 500 yuan, and maybe lose your job, do you think it's worth it?"
Like many workers, Liu Tian did not understand the local high temperature allowance policy earlier. In the past, the mung beans and herbal tea delivered by the company in the summer were the only benefits he remembered this season. He didn't hear the word "high temperature allowance" from the legal aid lawyers until he was owed two months of salary by the company since March this year.
And Liu Tian’s attitude toward the “evaporation” of the high temperature allowance also represents the reaction of many workers when their high temperature rights are violated. The reporter learned from the Fuzhou Labor Supervision Department that, in recent years, the number of consultations about the high temperature allowance policy has increased, but not many employees choose to recover the high temperature allowance through labor arbitration.
High temperature allowance without "existence"
Basic salary, performance rewards, living allowance... On Liu Tian’s June pay slip, words such as "high temperature allowance" and "high temperature fee" are not visible. The takeaway brother Zhang Quanxin didn't even have a pay stub. He vaguely remembered that the takeaway platform would adopt a floating unit price mechanism in hot weather. In the past few months, he was able to earn more "errands" due to the high temperature when receiving orders. But for "what is the floating ratio? Which part is the high temperature allowance? Under what conditions can the floating coefficient be adjusted?"... Zhang Quanxin didn't understand. In their view, the reason why the high temperature allowance has no "sense of existence" is that the subsidy amount is not high.
At present, some employers will also "discount" the implementation of policies through such methods as implicitly deducting wages through explicit subsidies and using welfare high temperature subsidies to offset high temperature allowances. Lawyer Qiu Yuanyuan of Fujian Jinlei Law Firm said that because the total amount of the high temperature allowance is not high, it is easy to be "hidden" by the employer in the form of combining it with other benefits, causing confusion to the employees. Because the issuance of high temperature allowances also involves objective factors such as weather conditions and working environment, some companies will experience delays in the process of granting allowances, or even multiple months of combined payment. These "fancy operations" have reduced the "sense of existence" of high temperature allowances, and have caused difficulties for workers to claim high temperature subsidies.
This year, in a survey of employees’ rights protection conducted by a third-party agency commissioned by the Fujian Federation of Trade Unions, there are not a few employees who “do not know” or “do not understand” the high temperature allowance policy. More than 40% of the employees said in the survey that they “do not understand the high temperature allowance. “The distribution rules of the company”, and this proportion even exceeds 60% in surveys of high-temperature operation industries such as construction, food delivery, express delivery, and sanitation.
In recent years, many places have successively issued detailed implementation rules for the distribution of high temperature allowances, and the high temperature allowances will be dynamically adjusted every year according to the economic and social development of each region. The relevant person in charge of the Fuzhou Labor Supervision Department told reporters that while the system is constantly improving, the variable allowance standard has undoubtedly caused difficulties in the popularization of high-temperature allowance related regulations.
The high temperature allowance is not only a lack of "existence" among workers. Qiu Yuanyuan told reporters that the laws and regulations on high temperature allowances originated from the "Administrative Measures for Heatstroke Prevention and Cooling Measures" issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions. Most localities regulate the issuance of high temperature allowances in the form of red-head documents. Issues such as unclear penalty standards. She called on relevant departments to clarify their powers and responsibilities, form a joint force for supervision, further increase the punishment of employers who refuse to perform their obligations, and make the high temperature allowance more "existent" within the institutional framework.
There is also a retrospective period for the high temperature allowance owed
The relevant person in charge of the Fuzhou Labor Supervision Department told reporters that among the complaints received at the window, only a small number of complaints about the high temperature allowance were made. Employees often resorted to "bundling" the high temperature allowance owed by the company and other illegal activities. Make a complaint together.
A few days ago, Zhao Xin, a worker from a decoration and design company in Shaxian County, and his coworkers took the boss to court on the grounds that the company owed the wages and high temperature allowances to 28 decoration workers. The Sha County Court found that the corporate legal person evaded the payment of workers’ wages and high temperature allowances on the grounds of the epidemic, but failed to pay after being ordered by the relevant government departments, and its behavior constituted the crime of refusal to pay labor remuneration.
In the end, with the support of the court, Zhao Xin and his workers received a salary of 510,000 yuan and a high temperature allowance of 18,000 yuan. Zhao Xin told reporters: "Compared with the wages in arrears, the high temperature allowance of more than 1,000 yuan per person is not much, but no matter how small it is, it is our right. Rights cannot lie on paper. We should fight for rights."
Hu Chunfang, a lawyer from Fujian Tuowei Law Firm, told reporters that according to Article 17 of the "Management Measures for Heatstroke Prevention and Cooling Measures", the high temperature allowance paid by employers to workers engaged in high temperature operations should be included in the total wages. Therefore, the high temperature allowance belongs to wages, and the illegal behavior of a company in arrears with the high temperature allowance can be punished according to the salary arrears.
"Although after a labor dispute occurs between a laborer and an employer, the laborer can make claims regarding the payment of the high temperature allowance in labor arbitration and later court proceedings, but retrospectiveness is time-limited." Hu Chunfang reminded laborers under high temperature, "According to relevant regulations, the arbitration and statute of limitations for high temperature allowances are within one year from the date of termination of the labor relationship."
In response to the issue of proof in the high temperature allowance arbitration litigation, Hu Chunfang said frankly that the current legal practice requires high temperature allowance evidence. Workers should increase their awareness of rights protection, and retain time sheets, weather forecasts, and working environment temperatures that can prove that the working environment has reached the issue. Valid evidence of high temperature allowance standard. At the same time, she pointed out that, unlike the general proof requirement, “who advocates who submits proof” is different. When employees claim high temperature allowance, enterprises also have the obligation to produce proof.
High temperature allowance can be "talked"
On the morning of July 23, in the conference room of Fuzhou Tianying Environmental Energy Co., Ltd., the executive and the employees respectively sent 5 representatives to negotiate on the adjustment of the basic salary of employees and subsidies for outdoor high-temperature operations. Lin Tongdong, an employee representative, told reporters that through negotiation, the outdoor high temperature allowance for the company's production front-line employees will be increased from 200 yuan/month to 260 yuan/month. In addition, the employers and employees also agreed that only the employees can send representatives to supervise the distribution of the enterprise high temperature allowances agreed in this consultation.
“The high temperature allowance is an additional compensation for the extraordinary labor consumption of workers in the high temperature environment in summer. The payment of the high temperature allowance is the legal obligation of the employer.” said Gao Wenjing, director of the Fuzhou Federation of Trade Union Rights Protection Department, “we encourage enterprises Within the framework provided by the law, negotiate with the company’s trade union on the standard, method, and scope of the high-temperature allowance, so that more workers at high temperatures can understand the high-temperature allowance and understand their rights."
"Affected by the epidemic, some companies are facing production and operation pressures and may face practical difficulties in paying high temperature allowances. However, both parties can negotiate on an equal footing." Qiu Yuanyuan called, "Even under the epidemic, high temperature allowances cannot be reduced to'paper benefits'. Enterprises should start from the perspective of caring for workers and respecting labor, and respect the labor rights of employees."