On The Legal Protection Of Laborers’ Right To Rest

Only through rest can workers recover their physical strength and energy,and only during the rest time can workers have time to do things unrelated to work,such as accompanying their families,traveling,shopping,etc.The right to rest is the basis for workers to enjoy other rights.Legal protection of workers’ right to rest is a necessary prerequisite for improving work efficiency and promoting social and economic development.However,with the development of the economy and the growth of the number of job seekers,workers often face the situation of extended working hours.The "996" working system is popular,and workers are "voluntarily" working overtime frequently.Due to the limited number of labor supervisors,the supervision department lacks the initiative to supervise the implementation of the workers’ right to rest,which is mainly based on post-event supervision.In addition,the employer’s violation of the workers’ right to rest is hidden,so it is difficult to detect the employer’s violation of the workers’ right to rest in time.The key evidence of the infringement of workers’ right to rest,such as punch records and attendance records,is mostly in the hands of the employer.It is difficult for workers whose right to rest has been infringed to achieve relief through litigation.The right to rest of workers is rooted in human rights,is the right that workers must have for their survival and development,and is the extension of the right to work.Safeguarding the right to rest of workers is the inherent meaning of creating a fair labor market,and also the inevitable requirement of building a harmonious labor relationship.The International Labour Organization,in the form of conventions and recommendations,has provided basic protection for workers’ right to rest,determined the eight-hour working hour system per day and the rest system of at least one day per week adopted by many countries.China has established a safeguard system for workers’ right to rest based on the provisions of the ILO.Germany,the United States and France,as the typical countries that guarantee workers’ right to rest,have many advantages that China can learn from.For example,Germany and the United States have a very clear definition of working hours.France has innovatively put forward the concept of workers’ "offline right".The United States attaches particular importance to the relief role of trade unions in safeguarding workers’ right to rest.From the perspective of the legislative provisions and practical status quo of the protection of workers’ right to rest in China,due to the unclear definition of workers’ working hours and the non-specific restrictions on the extension of working hours,it is not clear whether the necessary preparation time or arrangement paid by workers to start or end work belongs to working hours,and whether the "on-duty","meeting" and other hours belong to working hours,It is also unclear whether the enterprises that implement the quota work system have violated the excessive quota ceiling and whether they need to bear the consequences.At the same time,due to the low cost of employers’ infringement of workers’ right to rest and the low supervision efficiency of the labor supervision department,it is difficult to detect the violation of workers’ right to rest in time.If workers want to maintain their right to rest,they need to get along with employers through litigation or arbitration,and the current rules of proof for disputes over the right to rest place too much emphasis on the burden of proof of workers for overtime,It is not conducive to the protection of workers’ rights.Therefore,we should give full consideration to the deficiencies of the legislation on the right to rest of workers,refine the legislative provisions on working hours,restrict employers to extend their working hours at will,implement the legal liability for violating the right to rest of workers,improve the supervision efficiency of the right to rest of workers,and properly tilt the burden of proof of disputes over the right to rest to employers,so as to strengthen the legal protection of the right to rest of workers and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers.