Bright District Labor Arbitration Committee: Tang Fangjing stood at the entrance, lost in thought. It had almost been a year since he had crossed over.
Thanks to Bluebird Company, thanks to President Hu, the overtime pay case not only helped him survive but also allowed him to buy a house. It just goes to show that there are still more good people in this world.
After his reflection, Tang Fangjing walked up to the reception window and caught sight of a familiar face.
Ma Yao, inside the reception window, looked up and immediately recognized Old Tang. It was no joke, that overtime pay case was just too memorable, not to mention the series of slick maneuvers that followed.
Of course, there were also various news pieces lately.
"Lawyer Tang, what brings you here? It's not another overtime pay issue, is it?" Ma Yao asked with a smile as she looked at Tang Fangjing.
Old Tang waved his hand: "It's not about overtime pay, it's wages. I've taken on a legal aid case to help a few migrant workers reclaim their unpaid wages."
As Tang Fangjing spoke, he handed over several labor arbitration application forms.
Even though it was all the same issue, and the arbitration tribunal would definitely consolidate the cases, one still had to submit an application for every individual involved. The same principle applied at the courts.
Ma Yao took them and started to read; her eyebrows furrowed when she saw the name of Xiangkun Company.
"Lawyer Tang, is it about this Xiangkun Company? It hasn't been resolved yet?" Ma Yao looked up, her face marked with surprise: "It's been a long time, hasn't it? Since last year."
Tang Fangjing was unsurprised by Ma Yao's reaction; Luo Duancheng had mentioned that they had sought out the relevant departments, but were told it would be difficult to handle and were advised to take the legal route instead.
Old Tang felt there must be an issue. Normally, in such types of wage arrears, the labor inspection department should have taken action long ago.
So, seeing Ma Yao's reaction, he immediately said:
"You know what this is about, don't you? How can they not pay six months' wages? This isn't right, is it?"
Ma Yao shook her head: "I don't know much about the specifics. I heard something when I visited the labor inspection brigade. They said the man who employed these migrant workers... Yes, Yi Ruian, he hired them under his personal name, so Xiangkun Company wouldn't acknowledge..."
"And this Yi Ruian has been missing since last year."
"Wait, isn't Yi Ruian the legal representative of Xiangkun?" Tang Fangjing asked, "Under such circumstances, can Xiangkun just disclaim any responsibilities?"
He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about construction contracts, but he still knew that in such subcontracting situations, many would employ third parties, colloquially known as 'foremen.' Googlᴇ search NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Of course, there were benefits to this arrangement. If the workers weren't paid, they could pursue the foreman; the company would only interact with the foreman and not the laborers.
Xiangkun definitely lacked the necessary qualifications. It was a tiny company, and the shareholders' paid-in capital was probably pitiful, yet it still managed to snag contracts.
Ma Yao shook her head: "I'm not sure about the details. Here's a phone number; call the labor inspection brigade and ask them. They should be clear about the situation."
Tang Fangjing nodded; a case that needed to be resolved required practical measures. It wasn't that he couldn't go directly to arbitration. If the person was untraceable, the arbitration tribunal could proceed publicly or in absence, but then it definitely couldn't be enforced; it would just be a farce.
Therefore, before that, it was necessary to clarify the situation for the sake of enforcement or preservation.
Having called the labor inspection brigade and spoken for quite a while, Tang Fangjing finally hung up.
Indeed, it was problematic. The real boss of Xiangkun was probably trying to shake off the company, claiming that Yi Ruian dealt directly with the subcontractor on the upper level.
Yes, this was a case of a second-tier subcontractor—complications were flying high.
But the labor inspection had already found out that the work was directly awarded to Xiangkun, and then they had Yi Ruian come forward to recruit laborers.
He had been a foreman for some time, knew people, so it was easy for him to find workers when he went to recruit.
However, later on, Yi Ruian became untraceable.
Under the premise of maintaining stability, the relevant departments could "coordinate" to have Xiangkun pay up. After all, the subcontracting company above them, the Celestial Company, claimed to have already paid them, and there was corresponding evidence to prove it.
But the problem is that Xiangkun Company is now so poor that it's squeaking by, and it's about to go out of business; they simply can't come up with the money.
Another shareholder of the company, Lei Peng, claims that the business operations were all under the responsibility of Yi Ruian, the legal representative, and he knew nothing about the wage arrears.
That's where it gets stuck; the legal relationships involved are a bit complicated. Even the labor inspection department cannot forcibly demand that Lei Peng pays up; the only suggestion is to take legal action to resolve the issue.
Tang Fangjing wanted to shake his head. In his view, concerning legal relationships related to labor, the simpler, the better. But now, with all the subcontracting, not to mention private hiring and limited liability companies...
Not to mention migrant workers, even college students can't make heads or tails of all the intricacies; after all the work, they end up not getting paid and have nowhere to turn for defending their rights.
If they then encounter an unscrupulous lawyer who advises them to arbitrate or sue Yi Ruian, and they win the lawsuit, the lawyer gets paid, but the wages are still out of reach...
You can't say the lawyer was wrong; they were not at fault. If the execution couldn't be done, that's the court's business.
For a big shot like him, he could certainly clarify these legal relationships. But you should know that these layered, complex legal relationships are the biggest obstacles in the fight for rights.
Forget it, one must take it step by step.
"How about it, did you find out everything?" Ma Yao, who had just registered another case, asked.
"I found out; it's indeed troublesome. But we have to do it anyway. I need to revise the arbitration application here, and also, I'm going to apply to the arbitration committee to obtain evidence found by the labor inspection."
That is, evidence proving that Chaotian Construction Company subcontracted the relevant work to Xiangkun, and that they also paid the corresponding fees to Xiangkun.
The workers don't have much evidence at their disposal; the key evidence is the chat records and transfer records between Yi Ruian and them.
Wages were in arrears for six months, but the work lasted nine months. The money for the first three months was paid, and it was Yi Ruian who made the transfers directly.
All I can say is, regulations are regulations, but reality is reality; people don't care about whether it's a company or personal account.
And don't even start on illegal subcontracting; that's for the relevant departments to handle. All he cared about was getting the wages.
First, he needed to confirm several workers' employment relationships with Xiangkun Company!
Yes, that's right, employment relationships. Don't talk about how it's all labor relations on construction sites, or how someone over sixty who has already retired doesn't count as an employment relationship. If he, Tang Fangjing, couldn't even handle this much, he might as well be dead.
Each case needs to be analyzed specifically. This is something Old Tang often said when teaching students—a lawyer who gets bogged down in generic rules is never going to make it big.
If it's an employment relationship, then the wages could be doubled.
Indeed, after looking at the revised application again, Ma Yao hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Lawyer Tang, this should be a labor relation, right? The contract between Xiangkun and the other construction company should also be a labor subcontracting agreement..."
"You don't need to worry about that; I am more eager than you to get this over with," Tang Fangjing said with a smile.
The first step is to establish a relationship with Xiangkun. For the second step, he planned to link Xiangkun's debts to its shareholders. It didn't matter whether Yi Ruian disappeared or not; Lei Peng said he didn't know, but how could that be possible?
Waiting was always the hardest part for Tang Fangjing, but perhaps this case was special. Just a few days after he submitted the application, the arbitration tribunal contacted him, saying they wanted him to talk with Lei Peng to see if they could mediate the matter.
Although Tang Fangjing didn't think much of this supposed mediation, he still planned to attend; he wanted to see what this Lei Peng was really like.
The next morning, Tang Fangjing arrived at the arbitration tribunal on time. The arbitrator, a middle-aged man, greeted him and invited him to sit down upon his arrival.
And there, Tang Fangjing finally met Lei Peng, another shareholder of Xiangkun Company.
He looked very much like a "man of society," with patches of tattoos showing on his neck, giving off a "keep away from strangers" vibe when walking on the street.
It wasn't that he, Old Tang, was judging a book by its cover; the man looked exactly like he had imagined.
However, no sooner had he sat down and before he could even speak, Lei Peng across from him said, "So you're that Tang Fangjing, huh? Still arbitrating? I've said I don't know anything about this—it's got nothing to do with me. Why is this still an issue to bother me about?"