Chapter 407: Huo Pengfei: On What Grounds?

April 4th, the day before the Qingming Festival. Taboo: "It's not that serious," "He's still just a child," "Forget it, forget it."

Suitable for: Paying respects to ancestors, visiting graves, sweeping tombs, filing a lawsuit!

Huo Pengfei is truly sweeping away the gloom now; his matters have already been resolved by Zhou Yi.

Previously, his affair with Xiao Wu Guniang had stirred up a lot of gossip within the Company; after all, it really did feel like the two of them were fleecing the Company.

So now, the Company's Legal Aid Fund has a new rule: recusal.

If there is any special relationship between the Legal Department's lawyers and the employees, then they cannot act as agents.

Of course, as to whether this special relationship exists, the right of final interpretation rests entirely with General Manager Zhou.

And this newly introduced clause has been jokingly dubbed the "Huo Pengfei Clause" by the Company's employees...

Sitting in the Company, looking at the employees outside the office, Huo Pengfei feels that everything is exceptionally beautiful.

Needless to say, this is another case that has the potential to become a guiding case for the Supreme People's Court.

This is not to say that such cases were not valued in the past; perhaps few people know that the law involving the Employment Equality Right, namely the "Employment Promotion Law," was actually deliberated and passed as early as 2007 and implemented starting New Year's Day 2008.

Of course, perhaps even fewer people know that the Labor Law we are familiar with, namely the Labor Contract Law, was also deliberated and passed in 2007 and officially implemented starting New Year's Day 2008...

It was only amended in 2012.

In that era, we truly did a lot of legislative work regarding labor and employment.

As for why it seems there haven't been many cases regarding the Employment Equality Right to this day, it's very simple: truly very few people will get serious over employment discrimination.

Regardless, compared to the Laborer, the employer is inherently in a dominant position; this is a fact that no amount of talk can change.

Huo Pengfei adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. After more than half a year of study, his current actions are actually very similar to Lawyer Fang's.

It's just that his mindset still hasn't changed; unlike Lawyer Fang, who thinks about whether he can send someone to prison the moment he encounters a problem...

If this case were handled according to the provisions of the Civil Procedure Law, one would actually have to go to the court where Xilai Company is located to file the lawsuit, which is especially far.

But fortunately, there is now the Internet Court. I really need to popularize this for many people: the Internet Court is truly a good thing.

And these dozen or so cases were placed directly with the Hangzhou Internet Court. Now, Huo Pengfei has already prepared the Indictment, and the corresponding evidence has all been collected.

They come up with such reasons for refusal, or even state restrictions directly in their recruitment, as if they haven't cared about the Employment Equality Right at all.

The most outrageous company among these cases was hiring a Secretary, and in the recruitment requirements, they even explicitly stated: female, single, and must have sexual experience...

God knows if they wanted to hire a female secretary or a female mistress.

There were also requirements for employees to call them "master" and the like. In short, only after Huo Pengfei began to specifically study these cases did he realize that the current labor and employment market has reached such an outrageous level.

This shows that these companies have absolutely no legal awareness in their hearts, or rather, the fact that they can make such recruitment requirements shows that they have never been punished for similar employment discrimination.

Therefore, from the moment he received the materials, Huo Pengfei began to work hard, looking up information and preparing evidence; he hadn't slept well for many days in a row.

However, based on his level, these cases really couldn't be simpler.

For example, in this Xilai Company case, the other party has almost shown their hand, saying "I just discriminate against Handong people." He cannot think of any reason the other party could use to defend themselves.

Lowering his head, Huo Pengfei wrote on the case file: "In my view, the only reasons they can use to defend themselves are these few points: first, this is the employee's personal behavior, perhaps adding the excuse that the employee didn't understand the operations."

"Then explain that our company didn't hire them for other reasons, but this obviously won't hold water; during the performance of official duties, the employee represents the company."

"As for the second point... if I were the opposing lawyer, I would definitely find an employee of Handong origin, sign a supplementary contract, pay the social insurance retroactively, and then use this to prove that there was no employment discrimination."

"But this point is also useless. Whether your company has Handong employees has no connection to whether you committed employment discrimination in this case... So, this case—no, these cases—are almost free wins!"

Huo Pengfei slapped his thigh. Truly, he had never seen such free-win cases, and they were so typical. If these became guiding cases, he would be burning high incense!

Although he is still a tiny bit behind Lawyer Fang, at least he has made progress.

It wasn't in vain that he spent half the day yesterday flipping through the Employment Promotion Law and the Tort Liability Section, preparing so attentively and working so hard. If he still couldn't win, he, Huo Pengfei, would quit the legal profession!

No more talk, he was ready to go online to file the lawsuit!

Just as he was about to start, someone knocked on the office door, and then Liu Shiwen walked in.

"General Manager Liu? Are you looking for me for something?"

Liu Shiwen looked at the full case files on Huo Pengfei's desk, hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Old Huo, you are currently a member of the Legal Department, and those who are filing the lawsuits are not our Company's employees, so you cannot become the other party's agent. The boss doesn't know, but don't you know either?"

Huo Pengfei was stunned. It seemed that was indeed the case. He had been handling lawsuits for the Company's employees during this period, as if he had returned to the time when he was doing litigation.

So he almost forgot that he was still a member of the Legal Department!

Looking at the table full of case files and the notes he had written, Huo Pengfei suddenly felt a bit depressed.

He wanted to ask, "General Manager Liu, why didn't you say so earlier?" but he couldn't bring himself to ask that.

He himself is a Lawyer, and a Lawyer who does litigation; if he asked others about this, that would be truly embarrassing.

Liu Shiwen looked again and said once more: "Lawyer Huo, this... are you alright?"

"Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing..."

My heart is bleeding, my guiding cases!!!

After a long while, Huo Pengfei finally recovered and said to Liu Shiwen in front of him: "General Manager Liu, then can I know who will be in charge of this case? Is it Teacher Fang?"

If it were Lawyer Fang, that would be fine. He could let the other party see his notes, and if he could get a good evaluation, that would be enough to make Huo Pengfei happy for many days.

"Actually, you know the other party too. It's Teacher Fang's... student, that lawyer named Zhou Xinran. As for Teacher Fang, he said he has done a bit too many guiding cases recently, and it's better to give young people more opportunities."

Huo Pengfei: "..." Let it be destroyed, I'm annoyed.

What kind of humble-brag is this? If only he couldn't beat the other party...

…………

Inside the law firm, Zhou Xinran walked to the office door and knocked.

"Come in!"

Pushing the door open, Zhou Yi and Lawyer Fang were sitting there, one inside and one outside.

"You're here, Xinran. Come and sit," Lawyer Fang greeted.

After Zhou Xinran sat down, he then said: "Didn't we discuss the theory of the Employment Equality Right at Lao Difang before? I didn't expect Zhou Yi to go back and try it out. Now there are a few cases regarding the Employment Equality Right here, and I'm prepared to hand them over to you."

There was no expression on Zhou Xinran's exquisitely made-up face; she just nodded and said: "Teacher Fang, there's no need to call me if you're taking a case yourself... Wait, what did you say? You're prepared to hand these cases over to me?"

At this moment, Zhou Xinran began to observe Fang Dazhuang and Zhou Yi carefully; for a fleeting instant, she even thought the two of them had been replaced.

How could that be? These two were the ones who always had phrases like "Zhou Cainiao" and "you could win even if you led a dog by a leash" on their lips, right? Even Fang Dazhuang only ever said that he was ready to finish his apprenticeship.

But wanting to get a case from him was simply impossible.

What was going on? Had these two changed their nature?

Unable to bear being scrutinized, Zhou Yi spoke up: "Ahem, Xinran, actually, these cases were originally meant to be handed to Huo Pengfei from our Company, but it turned out he couldn't serve as the agent, so we came to find you instead."

"But didn't you think my level wasn't good enough?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yi chuckled and said: "Xinran, these cases actually have nothing to do with skill level. Even if you put a... in short, they are very simple, because Huo Pengfei has almost everything prepared; all that's left is to go to Court and speak."

Holy crap! Zhou Xinran exploded instantly!

What did that mean? Others had already prepared everything, and then you come to find me?

She started yelling on the spot: "Zhou Yi, what do you mean by this? Are you insulting me? What's wrong? Do you think my level isn't good enough, so I can only handle these things that others have prepared..."

Just then, Fang Dazhuang, who was on the side, spoke up: "Xinran, among these cases, there is a possibility that one could become another guiding case for the Supreme People's Court this year."

In an instant, the previously furious Zhou Xinran transformed into Miss Xinran, her face full of smiles as she said: "Really, Teacher Fang? Zhou Yi, how can I thank you for this? In the future, you can actually insult me more often; I really don't mind these things..."

Zhou Yi: "..."

Heh, women.

If this were purely an ordinary case, Zhou Xinran would definitely not be interested; it would clearly be looking down on her, and she wasn't a Lawyer like Zhang Wei.

But now, a case that could potentially become a guiding case for the Supreme People's Court, and one that had been meticulously prepared by a Lawyer with a decent level—only a fool would refuse!

"Where are the case files? Here? Then I'll go back and study them first. No need to tell me, Lao Zhou, I understand. File the Litigation as soon as possible, Hangzhou's Internet Court, right? Got it!"

After saying this, Zhou Xinran hugged that pile of case files, which weighed over ten jin, and headed back excitedly.

"Wait, Xinran, you took my notes and case studies too!" Fang Dazhuang shouted from behind.

However, it was already too late; Zhou Xinran had long legs and was tall, walking very quickly, not at all looking like she was carrying over ten jin.

Only Zhou Yi and Fang Dazhuang were left looking at each other in dismay.

After a long while, Fang Dazhuang suddenly said: "I suddenly feel that Xinran is really suitable for you."

Zhou Yi: "???"

Next was the procedure: filing the Litigation with the Internet Court in Hangzhou.

In Hangzhou, the location of the Internet Court, Bai Rong, the staff member responsible for Case Filing review, was looking through them one by one in front of the computer. The current review work leaned towards procedure and was actually not complicated.

Moreover, compared to offline Courts where there was all sorts of talking and discussion in the filing hall, the advantages of being online were actually very significant.

As she looked, Bai Rong suddenly stopped because she discovered a series of multiple Litigations.

These Litigations were quite special because they were actually targeting the Right to Equal Employment!

This was a right that had been talked about for many years, but it seemed it was still not taken seriously by everyone.

Unlike Labor Law, which, after so many years of development, at least many people now knew that when encountering unreasonable treatment, there were still paths like Arbitration and Lawsuit to take.

By comparison, many people hadn't even heard of the Employment Promotion Law, which was introduced around the same time; they would feel, do we actually have such a law?

Bai Rong was also stunned for a while; she hadn't thought of the Employment Promotion Law for a moment either, so she hurriedly asked a colleague next to her before she remembered.

This was truly rare; before the start of labor, filing a Lawsuit for Infringement regarding the Right to Equal Employment due to employment discrimination was really too rare!

Looking at the Defendant again, Bai Rong suddenly felt some of the names were familiar. Weren't these the Companies that had been scolded on the internet before? So, were they finally being sued?

Although she was a staff member responsible for review, everyone had curiosity. At this moment, Bai Rong even wanted to know what the result would be if this Lawsuit were exposed.

The review was naturally fine; if he couldn't even manage to file a case with materials prepared personally by Huo Pengfei, then he should stop working and go back to raise pigs.

In Jingzhou, after filing the Litigation, Zhou Xinran also discovered that these cases were truly ones that could be won even if you led a dog by a leash, because that Lawyer Huo Pengfei seemed afraid he would forget something, so he wrote everything down in his notes.

And so, Zhou Xinran felt that she didn't need to use her brain at all...

Originally, such a thing could never happen, but the situation now was too special.

Zhou Yi could only comfort Huo Pengfei, saying that in the future, if the Company had good cases, he would be considered first; as for the Phoenix Chick, it was better to honestly do those ordinary cases.

In this society, there are always people who have to stand at the top of the pyramid, and there are always people who have to be the foundation.

Time passed quietly; in Hannan Province, it was a beautiful morning.

Inside Xilai Company, Ren Tong sat at her desk, yawning.

It was too tiring; yesterday she had argued with many people on the internet again because she felt that in today's economic downturn, we really should be considerate of the Company.

After all, if the Company couldn't survive, then where would the employees be?

However, this remark was retorted by someone who called her a scab.

Ren Tong was naturally unconvinced; she just felt that many people now were a bit crazy, as if all Companies were man-eaters. They didn't stop to think that if there were no such Companies, who would provide them with positions? Who would provide them with wages?

Just as she was busy, suddenly, the office door was pushed open, and the Company's boss walked in, followed by the Vice President in charge of human resources.

The boss of this Company was also the Company's legal representative.

"Wang Zong, are you looking for me for something?"

Wang Zong of Xilai Company said: "Something? How are you handling things? Who told you to reject those job seekers because they were from Handong?"

What? Ren Tong was stunned; she said with some confusion: "Wasn't it you who told me not to take people from Handong?"

"Then you just wrote the reason down directly? I don't understand what you were thinking!"

First update, thanks to Yueye Youquan, another novice brother, Wenchidage, Feimaowuyu, and the brothers who tipped; thank you.

(End of this chapter)