# 50-Year-Old Woman Told by Company She Reached Legal Retirement Age, Contract Terminated! One Screenshot from Official Website, Company Paid 940,000 Yuan in Compensation

A 50-year-old female employee was terminated by the company on the grounds of reaching the statutory retirement age. She disagrees: she is in a management position and should retire at 55, but the company claims she is not in a management role. What’s really going on?

Case Overview:

The 50-year-old female employee “retired” and filed a claim against the company.

A screenshot from the official website became a key point.

Zhang, female, born September 11, 1974, signed an employment contract with a Beijing company on April 1, 2019, establishing an employment relationship.

On September 11, 2024, the company terminated her employment contract, citing her reaching the statutory retirement age.

Zhang believes she holds a management position, and the statutory retirement age should be 55. The company’s illegal termination of her contract means she should be compensated.

The company argues that Zhang was not engaged in a management role at the company. According to company policies, she is not a management personnel.

On September 25, 2024, Zhang filed for arbitration of labor dispute, submitting a screenshot from the company’s official website showing her as management staff and a notarized document. She requests compensation of 942,064.80 yuan for illegal termination and 320,169.98 yuan for unpaid annual leave from January 19, 2015, to September 11, 2024.

The local arbitration committee ruled that the company should pay Zhang 942,064.80 yuan for illegal termination and 10,382.28 yuan for unpaid annual leave.

Unhappy with the decision, the company filed a lawsuit.

Court ruling:

The screenshot proves Zhang was a management staff member.

The company’s violation means she should be awarded 940,000 yuan.

The first-instance court held that the company’s official website shows Zhang as management personnel. The evidence provided by the company was insufficient to deny her management role, so the court confirmed her management position.

Since the company terminated her employment contract upon her reaching the statutory retirement age, this was an illegal termination, and she is entitled to compensation. The company’s claim for 942,064 yuan in compensation lacked basis, so the court did not support it.

Regarding annual leave, the company argued that the period of unpaid leave supported by arbitration was too long. The court found that Zhang still had 2 days of unused annual leave. After calculations, the court found the arbitration award was appropriate. The company’s claim for unpaid annual leave wages lacked basis, so the court did not support it.

In summary, the first-instance court ordered the company to pay Zhang 942,064.80 yuan for illegal termination and 10,380.28 yuan for unpaid annual leave from January 1, 2022, to September 11, 2024.

The company appealed. The second-instance court rejected the appeal and upheld the original judgment.

Summary: Labor Law Library, China Accounting News, etc.

Source: Harbin Daily