79: After digging this pit for so long, you finally jumped into it

In Xinguang District, inside Ousheng Human Resources Co., Ltd., Wu Junxian, thirty-six years old this year, was cracking melon seeds.

He was the boss of this so-called human resources company and also the victim whose ribs were broken by Kang Weilun earlier.

While cracking melon seeds, he said, “Did Kang Weilun’s family not say anything else?”

A young man beside him replied, “No, I already told them on the phone last time. Anyway, if their family doesn’t pay, there’s no way we’ll give them a letter of understanding.”

Wu Junxian nodded, “That’s fine. He even dared to come over and threaten me. He really thinks he’s hot stuff, what a joke!”

“Let’s just leave him hanging for now.”

Actually, Wu Junxian’s idea was to wait for the other party to beg and scrape together some money, and when they were truly out of options, he would step in and be the good guy.

He had already asked a Lawyer, and without a letter of understanding, the probability of probation was very small.

It wouldn’t be too late to give a letter of understanding once the Procuratorate spoke up.

By then, Kang Weilun wouldn’t hate him; instead, he would be especially grateful!

To have survived in the cutthroat labor agency industry until now, Wu Junxian certainly had some brains; a brainless person wouldn’t have made it this far.

However, Wu Junxian didn't know that at this time, Zhou Yun had already begun to collect evidence.

Similar to Liu Fusheng’s case, how to prove an employment relationship, especially when no contract was signed, can be done with five types of evidence, according to Article 4 of the former Ministry of Labor and Social Security’s “Notice on Matters Concerning the Establishment of Employment Relationships.”

First, records or vouchers of wage payments, and records of insurance contributions.

Second, “work permits” or similar documents issued by the employer to the employee that can prove their identity.

Third, recruitment forms or registration forms filled out by the employee, and of course, chat records and call recordings also count.

Fourth, attendance records.

Fifth, witness testimonies from other employees.

Among these, items one, three, and four can apply the principle of reversal of the burden of proof.

Zhou Yun currently had wage payment records, all paid via WeChat transfer.

Although calculated daily, perhaps because Kang Weilun worked for a long time, payments were transferred every half month.

Then there were the chat records with the agency; after adding the agency, the other party sent what they called “benefits,” which were 200 yuan a day, plus records of stability subsidies, and so on.

So, in fact, there were already two types of evidence available, and if there could be testimonies from other employees next, that would be enough.

Zhou Yun’s core argument was to prove that Kang Weilun, the agency, and the sorting center had a labor dispatch relationship!

And a strict regulation for labor dispatch is that the dispatched worker must sign a fixed-term labor contract of no less than two years with the employer.

Here, the employer is the agency, and the user entity is the express company where the sorting center is located.

In addition, there were also chat records where a team leader from the sorting center notified Kang Weilun to work.

All of these were to prove one point: that the sorting center managed Kang Weilun.

Labor dispatch works this way: the user entity manages the worker, but wages are paid by the employer, which is the human resources company.

Therefore, when applying for arbitration, a third party, the express company, can also be added.

In a sense, the express company is also the agency’s “father,” and causing trouble for the express company would be more effective.

There’s no helping it; labor dispatch is no longer new. With the ongoing legal education, many times, labor dispatch can no longer completely avoid risks.

Consequently, more new tricks have emerged.

Labor outsourcing, labor subcontracting, contracting relationships, employment relationships, cooperative relationships…

Sometimes, as a worker, you might work for a long time and not even know what kind of relationship you have with the person or company paying you.

Labor subcontracting here is a term in the construction industry, which has specific laws regulating it.

In ordinary industries, it’s called labor outsourcing.

As for employment relationships, they are no longer referred to as such; they are uniformly called labor relationships, regulated by the Civil Code rather than the Labor Contract Law.

In short, just the area of labor disputes alone is enough to study for a lifetime; new tricks are constantly appearing.

Anyway, it was easy to find other employees. Feng Cuilan gave him a phone number of someone who was introduced to work at the sorting center with her husband.

However, this person couldn’t bear it and left after a month. As for whether he later received the so-called stability subsidy, that was unknown.

Zhou Yun dialed the number, and after a few rings, a voice answered, “Hello, who is this?”

“You’re Niu Shanghui, right? Hello, I’m Kang Weilun’s Lawyer. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

On the other end of the phone, Niu Shanghui, who was looking for work on the street, frowned and said, “Old Kang’s Lawyer? Then I’m busy…”

“I’ll give you three hundred.”

“Actually, whether I work or not doesn’t matter…”

After a few words, he hung up the phone. Zhou Yun also shook his head. Giving money to witnesses is theoretically not ideal.

It’s not that it’s against regulations; if a witness truly commits perjury, the Lawyer would also be implicated.

It’s just that if money is given to a witness, it might affect the probative value of the witness’s testimony. If the other party finds out, they can use this to refute it.

And the Court would generally accept it.

In other words, if the other party knows you paid a witness, then finding that witness is useless because their testimony will be deemed invalid by the Court.

However, it was clear that if he didn’t offer money now, the other party definitely wouldn’t be willing to come.

The law states that witnesses have an obligation to testify, but that’s a regulation; practice and reality are two different worlds.

Soon, Zhou Yun met Niu Shanghui, a middle-aged man who seemed a bit worldly.

“Mr. Niu, hello, I’m Zhou Yun, a Lawyer at Zhentian Law Firm…”

Zhou Yun introduced himself first, and as soon as he finished speaking, Niu Shanghui on the other side exclaimed, “You’re the Lawyer Zhou from the internet?!”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun immediately smiled, “Mr. Niu, you’ve heard of me too?”

“Of course!” Niu Shanghui laughed, “All of us who do hard labor have heard of you, Lawyer Zhou, you’re so famous.”

“You don’t need to give me money or anything, Lawyer Zhou, just tell me what you need.”

This was the advantage of being famous. Zhou Yun smiled and said, “Money must be given. The matter is, I need to initiate arbitration to confirm the employment relationship between Kang Weilun and that labor agency.”

“So, I need you to testify, to prove that this agency indeed found you all, then took you to the sorting center to work, and… to prove that you were managed by the people at the sorting center!”

Hearing this, Niu Shanghui immediately said, “No problem, Lawyer Zhou, just tell me what to do!”

“But Lawyer Zhou, after you’re done, can you help me… I worked for a month, and they said they’d give me some subsidy, but I didn’t get a single cent, sigh.”

Zhou Yun smiled and said, “No problem. After I finish Kang Weilun’s case, just wait patiently.”

Everything was ready. Zhou Yun arrived at the Xinguang District Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Court.

After waiting in line, he submitted the relevant documents at the counter.

The staff inside picked up the application and, after reading it, said, “Is this an application to confirm an employment relationship? But this… Oh, it’s to confirm labor dispatch.”

Zhou Yun nodded, “Yes, to confirm labor dispatch. I am indeed applying to confirm labor dispatch.”

The staff member also smiled upon hearing this. There was a time when companies would deny employment relationships, claiming it was labor dispatch.

Unexpectedly, now even such labor dispatch needs special arbitration to be confirmed, which felt very surreal.

The staff member reviewed all the other evidence and found no issues.

“You’re Lawyer Zhou, right? I’ve accepted your case here. You can go back and wait for the notice.”

Zhou Yun left the arbitration Court. Well, the trap had been dug; it just remained to be seen if the other party would jump into it.

Two days passed in a flash. There was no result from the bail application, but there was movement on the arbitration side; the case had been filed.

...

Inside Ousheng Human Resources Co., Ltd., Wu Junxian was looking at his phone.

He wasn’t playing but was watching a live stream.

There was no helping it; the reputation of labor agencies was now so bad that it was difficult to recruit people.

But the clients were constantly pressing, so labor agencies had adopted a new strategy: making short videos to attract workers.

What kind of short videos? For example, in a dormitory, a very beautiful girl would urge them to work.

Or, they would set up a production line under the camera and have two beautiful girls pretend to work there.

The goal was to attract young men. “Hey, look how pretty our agency staff are, and the girls in the factory are also so pretty.”

They wouldn’t tell you anything else; they just let you fantasize, fantasize about something happening with the girls after you joined…

Anyone with a bit of experience would know this was blatant deception, but there were many young people, and young people liked to fantasize.

Anyway, for labor agencies, tricking one person was one gain; besides earning the wage difference, they could also get a headhunting fee.

Wu Junxian was enjoying watching, and the beautiful agent in the video was actually his assistant…

Just then, the office door was pushed open, and the young man from before walked in.

“Boss Wu, look at this, Kang Weilun has filed for arbitration!”

“What?!” Wu Junxian put down his phone, took the stack of documents, and after looking at them, immediately said, “Damn it, Kang Weilun, what kind of employment relationship? He actually dared to do this!”

Wu Junxian’s face turned frighteningly dark. He truly hadn’t expected that at this critical juncture, the other party not only didn’t actively seek understanding but instead filed for labor arbitration!

“Does he want to go to jail? Is he crazy?!”

The young man beside him frowned and said, “Boss Wu, what do we do now? I just checked, the Lawyer Kang Weilun hired is named Zhou Yun.”

“It seems to be the very famous Zhou Yun from the internet.”

Wu Junxian heard this, picked up the application copy again, and indeed, it was Zhou Yun.

After a moment of silence, Wu Junxian said, “What are you afraid of? So what if it’s Zhou Yun? Can Zhou Yun disregard the law?”

“But… but Boss Wu, they’ve even listed the express company as a third party, won’t that…”

Wu Junxian frowned and said, “So what? If he files for arbitration, I’ll just give him money? You hear how much he wants, fifteen thousand? Is my money easy to come by?!”

“Let me ask Lawyer Tang first.”

Lawyer Tang, their human resources company's partner, was a full-time lawyer at a law firm in Jinghai.

At the same time, he also worked part-time doing some legal affairs for their company…

Although the law stipulates that full-time lawyers cannot work part-time in legal affairs, as the saying goes, regulations are regulations.

Soon, through WeChat, Wu Junxian took photos of the application and other materials and sent them over, then dialed the phone.

On the other end of the line, Tang Zihao, who was in his office, said, “So, Mr. Wu, that Zhou Yun has filed a lawsuit, right?”

“Yes, precisely because it’s that Zhou Yun, that’s why I’m looking for you. Otherwise, for such a trivial matter, I wouldn’t possibly bother you,” Wu Junxian said with a laugh.

Of course, he didn’t tell the other party that Kang Weilun had been arrested, as such matters weren't easy to disclose.

Tang Zihao looked at the materials on the computer and laughed, “Then this Lawyer Zhou has thought wrong. He can’t win this case. We and the express company have a labor outsourcing agreement, and there’s a contract.”

“I think since they’ve already filed for arbitration, we’ll just proceed. After all, that Zhou Yun is still a young man.”

Wu Junxian was overjoyed upon hearing this: “Then, Lawyer Tang, I’ll leave this case to you! I’ll have Xiao Li go to your law firm to sign the contract. Give them a good lesson!”

After hanging up the phone, Tang Zihao began to get excited. That was Zhou Yun, the top internet celebrity lawyer now.

If he could win the arbitration, then Tang Zihao might also become an internet celebrity!

After all, internet celebrities make money really fast, while lawyers have to slog through.

He really didn't believe that a mere young man could be that strong!

Look, what kind of lawyers were those who used to be his opponents? They won against a few lawyers from small rural towns and then acted all high and mighty.

This time, he was going to show him what a professional lawyer was!

Originally, he really wanted to post an update or a video, but considering he shouldn't declare victory prematurely, he decided to wait until he won to post!

And so, the day for the arbitration hearing arrived.

Zhou Yun left his house with his bag and took a taxi directly to the Xinguang District Arbitration Court.

Upon arriving, he went straight to the arbitration Court on the third floor. After pushing the door open, he found that two people were already sitting on the respondent's side.

The people sitting were Wu Junxian and Tang Zihao; no one from the express company came.

Because Wu Junxian had already explained in advance that since it was trouble he had caused, he would be responsible for resolving it.

Originally, according to Tang Zihao's intention, he could come alone, but Wu Junxian insisted on coming along, so he had no choice but to let him.

Seeing Zhou Yun enter, the two said nothing, simply observing him quietly.

He felt like a very ordinary young lawyer, just that he was bold, and surprisingly, he had become so famous.

The two sides remained silent like this until the arbitration Court personnel finally arrived.

The chief arbitrator was a middle-aged man. After entering, he smiled and said, “Both sides have arrived, very good. How about we discuss it first and see if we can mediate.”

Before Zhou Yun could say anything, Wu Junxian, who was beside him, directly said, “No mediation. They are purely extorting money. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“If anyone could mediate just by filing for arbitration, my company wouldn’t be able to operate at all.”

Alright, the middle-aged man didn't even ask Zhou Yun again and directly said, “Then, since that’s the case, let’s prepare for the hearing.”

Arbitration hearings are similar to civil hearings, with no major differences in procedure.

First, both parties present their statements.

Zhou Yun, as the applicant, immediately began his statement. He believed that the relationship between Kang Weilun and the human resources company and the express company was one of labor dispatch.

Among them, there should be a labor relationship between him and the human resources company.

The reason was that his wages were paid by the human resources company, while daily management was handled by the express company's sorting center.

This situation perfectly conformed to the form of labor dispatch.

Lawyer Tang immediately began his defense. The main content of his defense was that the relationship between the human resources company and the express company was a labor outsourcing relationship.

The reason was that both parties had signed a formal contract, where the express company outsourced the sorting work of the sorting center to his company.

Therefore, there was no situation of labor dispatch.

Many people cannot distinguish between labor outsourcing and labor dispatch, and in daily life, due to some people's deliberate actions, these two situations are often confused.

But in fact, the difference between these two situations is huge!

In layman's terms, dispatch is sending people, and outsourcing is contracting work.

If you can understand this sentence, you can basically clarify the two relationships.

Labor dispatch is when an individual signs a labor contract with a dispatch company, and then is dispatched to a user entity to work. Wages, social security, and other benefits are all borne by the dispatch company.

Labor outsourcing, on the other hand, is when a specific project—note, a specific project—is entirely contracted out to another party, which can be a natural person or a legal entity.

Once outsourced, the user entity cannot manage it. This is key, meaning that after labor outsourcing, management must be handled by the outsourcing company.

The most classic example is current customer service.

The entire customer service project is packaged and outsourced to an outsourcing company; it must be the entire project, not just individual employees outsourced, as that would not be labor outsourcing.

What is that called? That is called using laborers in the form of labor dispatch under the guise of contracting, outsourcing, etc.

Zhou Yun began to present evidence, which was the evidence he had collected earlier. Niu Shanghui's witness testimony was notarized, so he didn't need to appear in Court specifically.

Tang Zihao did not have much evidence, mainly two contracts: one was a labor outsourcing contract signed between the human resources company and the express company, and the other was a labor contract signed between the human resources company and Kang Weilun.

There was nothing much to say about presenting and cross-examining evidence; the authenticity of the evidence was not an issue, the main issue was relevance.

Soon, both sides began to debate.

Zhou Yun fired first: “Although the contract signed between our client and the human resources company is a labor contract, it is evident that during the work process, they accepted management from the sorting center!”

“According to the ‘Guidelines for Compliant Employment in Labor Dispatch in the Yangtze River Delta Region,’ the contracting unit cannot directly manage and control laborers.”

“However, according to our evidence one and evidence four, during the work process, it is clear that the contracting unit directly managed them, so this is a typical case of using laborers in the form of labor dispatch under the guise of contracting, outsourcing, etc.”

“According to Article 27 of the Interim Provisions on Labor Dispatch, if an employer uses laborers in the form of labor dispatch under the guise of contracting, outsourcing, etc., it shall be handled in accordance with these provisions.”

“That is to say, there is a labor dispatch relationship among the three parties, and there is a labor relationship between our client and the respondent human resources company!”

Labor outsourcing and labor dispatch are different; labor dispatch has specific regulations, so it can be handled according to those regulations.

But labor outsourcing is different; the regulations concerning it are too scattered.

Mainly because there is no clear regulation, each region has introduced its own methods.

The core issue lies in what the relationship is between the contractor of labor outsourcing and the specific people doing the work.

The Yangtze River Delta regulation clearly states that the contractor of labor outsourcing must establish a labor relationship with the employed laborers.

However, there is a problem: the contractor of labor outsourcing can be a natural person.

And two natural persons cannot establish a labor relationship.

So Zhou Yun did not directly bring up this point; he just focused on “management” to make his case.

You say it's labor outsourcing, right? Then logically, your company should be managing it, so why are the people from the sorting center managing it?

This isn't just chat records; there's also witness testimony.

Under Zhou Yun's continuous offensive, Tang Zihao was starting to struggle.

The other party's words were extremely sharp, citing various regulations as soon as he spoke, combined with the facts. For a moment, Tang Zihao himself felt that what the other party said made sense…

No, if this continues, it really might be deemed labor dispatch!

After careful thought, Tang Zihao came up with a countermeasure. Since the core issue was that the sorting center implemented management, he only needed to prove one point: that the human resources company implemented some management over its employees, and then it wouldn't be considered labor dispatch!

Because a laborer clearly cannot be managed by two parties simultaneously.

So he quickly whispered to Wu Junxian next to him, “The situation isn’t looking good. We might lose. If there really is labor dispatch, your company will also be fined!”

This wasn't him talking nonsense; one cannot engage in labor dispatch without the corresponding qualifications. Violating the regulations would result in a fine of one to five times the illegal gains.

Given the situation of Wu Junxian's company, if it were truly investigated, they would be fined into the ground.

“You know that Zhou Yun; he will definitely report it, so we cannot be deemed labor dispatch!”

Wu Junxian was a little flustered: “Then what do we do?”

“Prove that the company managed Kang Weilun, use that stable employment subsidy as proof!”

“But then we might have to pay compensation…” Wu Junxian couldn't help but say.

“We’ll negotiate with the other party then. Even if we pay a little less, it’s the only way…”

After being persuaded, Wu Junxian could only agree. At this time, he still hadn't thought of telling the other party about the criminal case.

In practice, such concealment is too common…

Tang Zihao was already preparing to begin. As for other risks, implementing management does not mean that there is a labor relationship with Kang Weilun; there is still a fight to be had!

If they directly admitted it, this lawsuit would be lost.

The whispered conversation was actually very brief. At this moment, Tang Zihao spoke: “Our side also implemented management over Kang Weilun.”

And on the opposite side, Zhou Yun heard this sentence and said, “How do you prove that?”

Tang Zihao immediately said: “Our side has a stable employment subsidy. Through the stable employment subsidy, we implemented management over Kang Weilun. As long as the other party works steadily, they will receive corresponding subsidies.”

Zhou Yun smiled. After digging this pit for so long, you finally said it!

Kang Weilun's case was for the crime of provoking trouble, but if it was truly due to demanding wages, would it still be considered provoking trouble?