Survey: Many bosses don't pay holiday overtime
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E-mail China Daily, October 16, 2012
Li is not the only one who did not receive overtime pay for work during the holiday.
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A chef at a restaurant in Beijing, who only gave his surname as Wang, said he came to the capital from Shandong province in 2009 and has worked for the restaurant since then.
"I never get any overtime pay," said Wang, 31, who took only three days off during the long holiday.
Wang, who earns 3,500 yuan ($560) a month, said he has previously been refused overtime pay.
"Once I asked the restaurant owner for overtime pay after I worked two days during the Spring Festival, the employer refused and said overtime pay was already included in my wages," Wang said.
"I will not ask for overtime pay again because I'm worried the boss may get angry and fire me," he said. "Unemployment is worse than no overtime pay."
Chinese law allows workers to report labor rights infringements, such as wage delay or not getting overtime pay, to labor authorities.
But to report such incidents to labor authorities, workers must give their real names. Experts said this discourages people from reporting their employers as they are afraid of losing their jobs.
Ye Jingyi, a labor law professor at Peking University, said that as a general rule, most big enterprises and government-affiliated institutions are reliable when granting overtime pay, but in many small private firms, overtime pay is often absent.
"Labor authorities should punish those who violate the law and they can put employers who do not pay overtime to workers on a blacklist and work with tax authorities to not allow them favorable employment or tax policies in the future," she said.
Trade unions should also play a bigger role in this regard, Ye added.
Ye said labor authorities should make more efforts to supervise and enforce the law.
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