Chinese company fires employee for not running fast enough

A Chinese manufacturing company is under fire for dismissing an employee for not running a 5K fast enough. Now, the employee has been awarded 6,700 yuan ($1,200) after a judge found that the company guilty of wrongful termination.

Mr. Liu, a man living in Suzhou City, China, filed a 10,500-yuan ($2,000) lawsuit against his former employer after he was allegedly fired for not being able to run 5K in 30 minutes–in 25 C weather.

Two weeks ago, the Shanghai News reported that The Suzhou Intermediate Court found that the company’s termination of Liu on these grounds was illegal; the judge ruled that the company should pay Liu.

According to Chinese media, Liu was informed by a company executive days after being hired in June 2022 that he would have to participate in a distance-running test. His colleagues warned him that this was indeed not a joke, and that failing to run the entire distance in the allotted time (30 minutes) would get him fired.

“Chinese man runs a 3:28 marathon while chain-smoking” — Canadian Running Magazine

View on the original site.

Liu said he didn’t have time to train and, to make matters worse, on the day of the test, it was a humid 25 C in Suzhou City. According to Weibo, Liu ran about a kilometre, then started experiencing heatstroke-like symptoms and gave up. That day he simply went back to work at the factory, and although no one said anything to him at the time, the next day he was notified that he had failed his probation period.

Article 39 of the Labour and Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that if an employee is proven not to meet the employment conditions during the probationary period, the employer may terminate the contract.

The company stood by their decision, referring to its rules and regulations about the long-distance running assessment for new employees of the company and stating that Liu, in failing the test, showed he was not suited to hard work.

Talk about a serious case of running out of patience. I guess the company couldn’t handle the heat of having a slower runner on their team.

posted Saturday July 8th
by Running Magazine