Overview
- Li, an engineer hired in 2010 with an open-ended contract since 2014, was required to stay on standby and respond promptly to work messages.
- Company records documented 14 bathroom breaks in April and May 2024, including one lasting about four hours, with unanswered messages and surveillance footage submitted to the court.
- Workplace rules defined leaving one’s post without permission as absence, with immediate termination allowed after three working days within 180 days, and the firm obtained labour‑union consent before firing.
- Li sued for 320,000 yuan alleging illegal dismissal and cited haemorrhoids, offering medication purchases from May–June and surgery records from January as evidence.
- The court found the breaks far exceeded reasonable needs, noted the medical records postdated many incidents, and after two trials mediated a 30,000 yuan allowance while effectively upholding the dismissal.