Courier wins labor dispute case

A district court has ruled that a delivery company did not have the right to fire one of its deliverymen for taking too much sick leave after he was injured on the job, Jing'an District People's Court said Thursday.

The court ordered the company, which was not identified, to reinstate the deliveryman and pay him 43,000 yuan ($7,026.50) in back salary, according to a court press release.

The company sued the employee, also unidentified, after a labor dispute arbitration committee ruled that it broke the law when it terminated his contract.

The deliveryman was injured in a car crash in Changning district on April 27, 2012. He was on a delivery at the time of the crash.

Police determined that the other driver was at fault for the accident. The deliveryman received 150,000 yuan in compensation to cover his medical bills and lost salary from missing work.

After returning to work after a six-month leave of absence required by law, the deliveryman continued to take sick leave into February.

At the end of March, the company terminated his contract because he failed to turn in a sick leave request in a timely manner.

The deliveryman later argued in court that he handed in his request on April 1, but the company refused to accept it. He then took the matter to the labor dispute arbitration committee.

The court acknowledged that the deliveryman made a mistake by turning in his request late, but it didn't change the fact that the company fired him illegally while he was recovering from an injury.