Chapter 347: Just Because They Were Here! (Seeking Monthly Votes)

In the hospital, Jiang Hao hung up the phone; he had just chatted with his parents, and unsurprisingly, they did not agree.

He had originally intended not to ask his family for help, as this was essentially making his parents shoulder a responsibility they shouldn't have to bear, but on an impulse, Jiang Hao had called them anyway.

There is only one kind of sickness in this world, and that is the sickness of poverty.

There was truly no other way; every method he could think of had already been exhausted—crowdfunding, borrowing money—it could be said that his girlfriend's parents had already borrowed every cent they possibly could.

Their relatives all knew that money was urgently needed because such a thing had happened to the family, but no one's money comes from a strong wind; they did what they could, but life still had to go on.

Jiang Hao thought of the Company again, but he was hesitant; if the Company made it clear that they simply wouldn't give any money, what should he do then?

When it came to arguing the law, he certainly couldn't out-argue the other side; they were the professionals.

Yet at this moment, Jiang Hao suddenly thought of a legend within Tengda Company: if you have a problem, remember to find President Zhou!

Moreover, this legend in the Company was told with such vivid detail that Jiang Hao naturally hadn't believed it before.

After all, he had learned in school that a company's purpose is to make a profit; if the Company managed every employee's affairs, how could it still make a profit? Didn't the boss need to make money?

But now there was no other way; he could only choose to seek help from the Company.

Inside Tengda Company, Ma Yao was busy with the work at hand, and then she received Jiang Hao's call.

"You're saying that you are in urgent need of money right now, but your girlfriend's company hasn't had any further news after paying an advance of 100,000 yuan, right? And then you're thinking of getting the company to assume more responsibility, is that correct?" Ma Yao asked.

"Yes, Master, right now, we really have no other way here. Tiantian's condition has improved significantly, and there is a great hope for a full recovery if we keep trying. I—I really don't want to give up!" Jiang Hao's voice was very hoarse.

"Alright, then you come back first. I'll get in touch with President He and have you consult with our Legal Department."

Only magic can defeat magic—this saying isn't quite appropriate here, but it's just to illustrate that professional matters should be left to professional people, especially when you aren't good with words.

Half an hour later, inside the Tengda Legal Department office, the legal staff member Liu Shiwen sat there, looked at Jiang Hao in front of her, and said, "Don't be anxious. What we can confirm now is that your girlfriend fainted at the company and was sent to the hospital from the company, right?"

Jiang Hao nodded: "That's right. Many people saw it at the time, and people from our company saw it too."

"That's not a problem; there is Monitoring there, and the ambulance also has records. The problem now is, if you want to claim compensation from the other company, you must prove that your girlfriend's hospitalization was caused by excessive overtime."

"Moreover, just as the other side said, first, your girlfriend is an Intern, not a regular Employee, so whether a labor relationship exists is something that will still be argued over. Second, whether it can be classified as a work-related injury is also difficult; there are too many things to prove..."

Law speaks of causal relationships; if you want to prove that the other party's illness was caused by excessive overtime and staying up late, you must first prove whether excessive staying up late can cause such an illness!

Secondly, you must also prove whether a situation of excessive staying up late existed...

Don't think this seems unnecessary to say. Let's talk about evidence: the company's clock-in records—haven't you ever encountered a situation where you clearly clocked out, but still had to work?

It has been said before that current companies have too many tricks in this regard.

Whether you can prove overtime depends on attendance records, but what if there are problems with that too?

The regulations say you get off work at six; you did indeed sign out at six, but you couldn't leave. How is the time at this moment determined?

This is where the problem lies. And even if there are attendance records, in practical case law, if only the clock-in record is used as evidence for overtime and the company denies it, the Arbitration commission or the Court is very likely not to support it.

Furthermore, there is another situation: they make you work all kinds of overtime at night and then provide compensatory time off. There are regulations for this too: four hours equals half a day of compensatory time off, and more than four hours equals one full day.

But basically... it's just something to listen to.

We all know that staying up late hurts the body; this topic has hit the trending searches n times. So, if they make you stay up until three or four in the morning, and you sleep in a bit the next day, can you make up for the body's deficit?

After all, humans are flesh and blood, not machines. Even machines need more oil and repairs when they are excessively worn out.

But unfortunately, the law has no relevant provisions in this regard.

Jiang Hao was dumbfounded again; he really hadn't expected there to be so many twists and turns in this.

"Then what do you think we can do now? Arbitration or a Lawsuit? But there's no time for that!" Jiang Hao said.

Liu Shiwen began to ponder. She rarely handled labor cases at Tengda because Tengda Employees basically never resigned; on the rare occasions they did, it was because of reasons outside of work.

If she were a lawyer, she would certainly suggest going through all sorts of legal channels; as long as she could make money, it would be fine.

But she wasn't a lawyer; she was just the company's legal staff, and the boss was a good person.

It was just that no matter how she thought about it, she felt it was hard to classify this as a work-related injury, or rather, it was basically impossible to be a work-related injury.

Even if this matter were brought to the Human Resources and Social Security Department or the Labor Arbitration commission, that would be the result.

After thinking for a long time without a solution, Liu Shiwen could only say: "This... is really hard to handle. I can't give any suitable advice right now. You could say it's basically impossible to classify this as a work-related injury. You can only negotiate with them, or... or ask President Zhou for help."

What? Looking at the petite legal staff member in front of him, Jiang Hao opened his mouth but still couldn't speak. He had originally thought he could get advice from the company's legal staff, but the advice given was really hard to act on.

Everyone knew the boss was a big internet celebrity. If the boss came forward and posted a video, this matter would certainly attract attention, but the boss was just a boss, not their father; why should he help post this?

The situation seemed a bit off. Finally, Huo Pengfei, who was busy on the side, couldn't hold back anymore.

"I say, Shiwen, just because his situation is hard to classify as a work-related injury, you have no other way? This wasn't a work-related injury to begin with; this is a Tort! This is an infringement on the right to life and health. Why go to Arbitration? Just file a Lawsuit for Infringement directly!"

Huh? Jiang Hao and Ma Yao both looked over. They didn't know much about Huo Pengfei. Since this legal staff member joined the company, he hadn't been very sociable and always liked to chat up pretty girls, so... he wasn't very popular either.

Yet, they hadn't expected him to say such things at this time!

Liu Shiwen was stunned. She suddenly felt that perhaps because she had been doing company legal work for so long, her brain had become restricted; when encountering this kind of situation, she would subconsciously try to fit it into the category of work-related injury.

But she had forgotten the Civil Code itself; for personal Tort acts, one can indeed file a relevant Lawsuit for Infringement!

Here, it needs to be clarified: in many cases, when we say we lost a lawsuit, it means the claims you put forward were rejected.

For example, for the same case, you can file for Tort damages, or you can file for breach of contract damages. Your failure in the breach of contract claim doesn't mean the Tort damages claim will also fail; this is because the claims are different, leading to different results.

Huo Pengfei had already walked over, saying unhurriedly: "And if you file a Lawsuit for Infringement, collecting and securing evidence will be simpler than before. You only need to prove that staying up late will cause your girlfriend's illness... what was it? Myocarditis? Oh right, that's it."

"Then, prove one more point: before your girlfriend was sent to the hospital, there was a situation of continuous staying up late, and this staying up late was required by the company, so the company needs to assume Tort Liability!"

Huo Pengfei was currently working hard to learn from Fang Dazhuang, so he tried to align his speech and actions with him, speaking to ordinary people in plain language as much as possible—that is, language everyone could understand.

Instead of forcibly using that kind of Legal Language.

Huo Pengfei's words made the three of them feel enlightened. This was to directly cast aside the so-called Work-Related Injury Insurance Regulations, Labor Law, and other departmental laws. We aren't talking about labor relationships, we aren't talking about Intern status or overtime or things like that.

We are using logical causal relationships and the Tort provisions in the Civil Code to string the whole event together!

Never mind whether it's overtime or not; just say, did your company make me stay up late or not? I did stay up late, and it was continuous staying up late. Then, get the hospital or a relevant institution to issue an appraisal result: was this sudden illness and sudden fainting caused by this recent continuous staying up late!

Once the evidence for these two logical relationships is secured, the whole matter is done.

"When mountains and rivers seem to leave no path, a village appears amidst the shade of willows and bright flowers"—this was Jiang Hao's current thought.

Liu Shiwen stared blankly at Huo Pengfei in front of her. Ever since this Lawyer Huo joined the company, she had felt that he was just so-so; he usually just coasted in the company, and anyone could draft a contract or something like that.

Who could have imagined that this person's level seems to be a hundred million points higher than she had imagined...

It even gave her the feeling of having Lawyer Fang right in front of her!

"Lawyer Huo, then what do you think I should specifically do now? I really thank you so much for this..."

Facing the worship and gratitude in everyone's eyes, Huo Pengfei felt a bit carried away again; he is just like this, always unable to stay calm when encountering things.

"Oh, it's nothing, nothing at all. We are all from the same Company, it's only right for me to help you. It's a small matter, don't take it to heart."

"What you need to do now is to secure the evidence I just mentioned: chat logs, attendance records, and specific work records, etc. As long as you can prove that your girlfriend had a continuous habit of staying up late, and specifically staying up until the middle of the night, then there will be no problem."

Jiang Hao nodded hurriedly, thinking about going back soon to discuss with his girlfriend how to secure this evidence!

But then he suddenly thought of something and asked hurriedly: "Then what if we can't fully collect this evidence? You also know that when working on a daily basis, one doesn't pay attention to these things..."

"I can't give you a guarantee on this!" Huo Pengfei shook his head and said: "However, in civil trial judgments, our judges have a standard, and this standard is called the Civil Evidence High Probability Standard!"

What is the Civil Evidence High Probability Standard? The Judicial Interpretation of the "Civil Procedure Law" by the Supreme People's Court stipulates: Regarding evidence provided by a party bearing the burden of proof, if the People's Court, after examination and in combination with relevant facts, is convinced that there is a high probability of the existence of the fact to be proved, it shall recognize the existence of that fact.

How to understand this? In plain language, it means that although the evidence you brought out is not enough to prove this matter, the judge looks at it and, eh, feels that I believe this evidence, the probability is particularly high!

Then what will happen? It should be considered that this matter is true; this is what is called the Civil Evidence High Probability Standard!

How to operate in specific practice? The answer is it depends on the judge; this is another manifestation of the judge's Free Discretion!

Of course, there are situations in practice where the standard is unclear, and there is nothing to be done about that, but there are two points to remember: preponderance of evidence, and the fact to be proved having a high probability.

In short, when you truly cannot produce definitive evidence, but you can produce corresponding evidence, you need to persuade the trial personnel, persuade them to believe that your matter is true.

This is also a big difference between civil and criminal cases; in criminal cases, it is said that there is a Presumption of Innocence, while in civil cases, it is said that the judge can decide based on the situation.

Huo Pengfei explained it very clearly, and Jiang Hao finally had nothing more to say. He greeted the few people and then left in a rush; he had too many things to do now.

This time, Jiang Hao was very moved. If he hadn't joined Tenda, he probably wouldn't know what to do right now. If he went to consult such a Lawyer, the consultation fee would not be low.

Watching Jiang Hao leave, Huo Pengfei sighed there and said: "Being young is good."

Things like working overtime are too common, so common that many people have already felt numb to the degree.

They might even feel that we should work overtime, because only by working overtime can we obtain more remuneration.

Zhou Yi had encountered many such remarks before. Many of those who hold this view are relatively capable workers, the kind with relatively high wage levels; of course, the overtime is also very serious.

They think this is normal, but Zhou Yi really wants to let them read Das Kapital, read the Selected Works of Mao...

After we leave, they will build schools and hospitals for you, and they will increase your wages. This is not because they discovered their conscience, nor because they became good people, but because we have been here.

But now, some people have already forgotten many things. I can only say that profit is really a good thing, and they have already been gone for a long time.

Today we cheer for Sun Dasheng, only because the demon mist has come again!

Facts proved that the promotion fees Jiang Hao "spent" were not in vain. As time passed, the news of a twenty-three-year-old girl entering the ICU due to excessive overtime and staying up late became increasingly popular.

Quite a few Self-Media started to actively ride the wave of popularity, and before riding the wave, they went through multi-faceted considerations, determining that this matter should have nothing to do with a certain District Bully, before they started to act.

Second update! The previous chapter was modified. The girl didn't die, because when I was writing it, I found that there was already an investigation result. The person is gone, and no matter how much you struggle, it's useless, so I changed it. Everyone can go back and take a look. In addition, the line of thought for Litigation in this book is just one line of thought; do not substitute it into reality. Reality and theory are two different things.

There is one more point: remember to distinguish the situation. The labor department only manages labor relations; for Tort Liability, you need to file a Lawsuit yourself. Once you understand this point, you will be able to understand the announcement.

(End of this chapter)