In a remarkable legal case, a woman from China, referred to by her surname Wang, has successfully taken her former employer to court for wrongful termination after being dismissed for clocking out just one minute early on six occasions within a single month.
The case attracted considerable attention due to its seemingly minor basis for dismissal and was heard in a local Guangdong court. Wang had worked at the company for three years with a solid record of performance.
As reported by the South China Morning Post, the court ruled in Wang’s favor, indicating that leaving one minute early did not constitute leaving work prematurely. The court also noted that the company had not provided any prior warnings or attempts to address Wang’s behavior before terminating her employment, which was based solely on surveillance footage showing her early departures.
The ruling explicitly stated that Wang’s dismissal was unlawful, as the evidence presented was deemed insufficient and the employer’s actions unreasonable. The specific amount of compensation that Wang is entitled to has yet to be disclosed.
Wang recounted that in late 2022, her Human Resources manager informed her that video surveillance records indicated she had left her workstation one minute before the end of her shift on six different days within the same month. After her dismissal, Wang filed a complaint with the local labor rights authority before ultimately taking her argument to court.
