Study On The Duty Of Loyalty Of Workers

The particularity of labor relations is characterized by the formal equality of subjects and substantive inequality.As a conceptual theoretical cognition based on the characteristics of the laborer group,the "weak nature" is the criterion for the legitimacy and necessity of inclined protection of workers and the appropriate intervention of public power.Overall,Labor law research is more concerned with the realization of workers’ rights and the protection of interests,and there is not enough research on their obligations.However,taking into account the rights and interests of the employer is an inherent requirement for achieving a harmonious labor relationship,and the performance of employees’ obligations is an important way to safeguard the interests of the employer.The duty of loyalty,which is an inclusive collection of obligations,is an important part of the obligation of workers and it is necessary to explore and clarify the connotation and extension of the duty of loyalty of workers,the basis of sources,the boundaries of performance,and the distribution of benefits as well as the value of ideas behind.Although the current labor legislation does not explicitly stipulate the duty of loyalty of workers,nor does it have relevant conceptual terms,the weakness of workers,the subordinate nature of labor relations,the unity of the antagonism between labor and management,the continuity of labor contracts,and the ethics of labor relations all indicate inevitability of the duty of loyalty.The duty of loyalty of workers is consistent with the core of the principle of good faith,and the systematic interpretation of labor legislation can lead to the conclusion that workers have a duty of loyalty.In fact,the duty of loyalty has become one of the rationales for judicial decisions.The duty of loyalty has a strong moral and ethical color,and has both moral and legal attributes.The legislation clearly defines the subtypes of the relatively universal and important duty of fidelity and recognizes subtypes of flexibility agreed upon by the parties to the labor relationship.Duty of loyalty of workers has the connotation of protecting the interests of the employer and promoting the performance of the labor contract,and belongs to accompanying obligations.The employee fulfills the duty of loyalty by acting for or without a specific act,and he or she has a dual pattern of behavior,to act as an obligation and not to act as an obligation.It is true that labor relations have shifted from administrative to contractual,the identity of workers has weakened,and the duty of loyalty seems to have shown a state of derogation.However,the duty of loyalty that "workers" should bear as a specific group still needs to be promoted in the new period,and carries special functions.First of all,Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law further emphasizes the importance of harmonious labor,and the fulfillment of the obligation of loyalty is conducive to the harmony and stability of labor relations,and is consistent with honest labor as the core connotation of the spirit of labor.Secondly,the credit mechanism is playing multiple functions in the labor market,such as maintaining order,improving efficiency,and facilitating decision-making,and the fulfillment of the duty of loyalty is conducive to the formation and maintenance of workers’ credit,thereby improving the current situation of lack of credit in the labor market.Third,the current Chinese society has the characteristics of a risk society,and risks have been embedded in social life,including labor relations.The duty of loyalty emphasizes the protection of the interests of the employer by the employee,which helps to strengthen the ethics of labor management,thereby maintaining a win-win interest community formed by the employer and the employee,which can effectively deal with the actual and potential risks.Fourthly,the deep integration of the digital economy and labor relations has made the flexibility of labor benefits and the diversity of employment models more prominent,and the importance of scientific and technological innovation has become more obvious.At the time of change and response,the duty of loyalty can affect the subjective mentality of workers,adjust the objective behavior of workers,and promote and maintain the harmony of labor relations.In addition,the promulgation and implementation of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China opened the era of Codification in China.Initially,although the labor law is an independent legal department,it is closely related to the civil law,and the provisions of the civil law also have a binding effect on the main body of labor relations.Also,the absorption and accommodation of moral thinking and the prominent emphasis on the protection of personality interests in civil law will also affect the value measurement and judgment of labor law to a certain extent.The protection of workers requires the employer to perform its obligations in coordination with workers,and the duty of loyalty of workers is quite ethical and moral,which is in line with the requirements of the Civil Code era.As a result,the duty of loyalty is irreplaceable and constantly enriches its rule of law function.Also,it can be used as the basis for the formation of legislative rules in the stage of generating rights and obligations;it can work as a value guide for the subject’s behavior at the stage of adjustment of labor relations;and it can provide a measurement criterion for judicial adjudication in the stage of handling labor disputes.The scope of the duty of loyalty has not yet reached a theoretical and practical consensus,because it is inclusive,and public morality,job characteristics and professional ethical attributes and other factors all affect its specific content.Typological analysis can be used as an important perspective and method for studying the obligation of loyalty,and its content can be classified and reconstructed according to different criteria.Specifically,the duty of loyalty can be divided into the core duty of loyalty and the marginal duty of loyalty;the legislative duty of loyalty,the contractual duty of loyalty and the implied duty of loyalty;the duty of loyalty in standard and non-standard labor relations;and the duty of loyalty of strong substitute workers and weak substitute workers.It is worth noting that it is necessary to define the boundaries of the duty of loyalty to prevent its generalization and thus infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of workers.The duty of loyalty is different from the obligation of work,and the restrictions on the rights of employers,the protection of workers’ rights and interests,and the priority protection of social public interests can all be used as considerations to clarify the boundaries of the duty of loyalty,and in the balance between the duty of loyalty and the right to privacy,the interests of personal information,the right to work,the right to rest,and freedom of expression,the limits of the performance of the duty of loyalty are gradually becoming clear.The commitment of responsibility is the guarantee of the performance of obligations,and the employee shall bear the corresponding legal responsibility after violating the duty of loyalty.Depending on the circumstances of the breach of obligation,the breach of the duty of loyalty can be divided into various types,including intentional breach and negligent breach,single violation and multiple breach,minor violation and serious breach,harmful breach and harmless breach,etc.The liability of the employee for breaching the duty of loyalty is partly clearly stipulated by the legislation,partly reflected in the labor contract agreement and the rules and regulations,and some of which requires the adjudication organ to exercise its discretion and comprehensively determine it.For statutory liability,the provisions of the legislative text should be followed;for the agreed liability,the reasonableness of the agreement should be reviewed;and the comprehensive determination of responsibility should be guided by the principle of proportionality and carefully measured and determined.Exceptions and principles always accompany each other,and there are grounds for exemption from liability for breaches of the duty of loyalty by workers.In addition to force majeure and creditor fault,there is a special exemption from the "whistleblower system",which applies to the duty of loyalty.The whistleblower system has gained a relatively mature development outside China,and although it is not clearly stipulated in the current legislation,its purpose can be absorbed and transformed to guide the practice of China’s Labor Law.That is to say,in order to safeguard the public interest,that the employee reports the employer’s violations of laws and regulations in a legal and reasonable way,although contrary to the protection of the interests of the employer emphasized by the duty of loyalty,is within the scope of the grounds for exemption from liability for breach of the duty of loyalty.