The case concerned an employee of a technology company who was in charge of product management and business development, contacting current and potential customers. 

Since she often communicated with customers via WeChat, even during holidays and weekends, she had requested overtime pay. 

The employer did not consider such correspondence as overtime work, but rather as communications within the scope of her job to meet the customer’s needs. Additionally, the agreement between the contracting parties entails a non-fixed working time system with fixed monthly remuneration. 

The employee thus filed a lawsuit, providing WeChat records in court as evidence of the overtime work. The Beijing court ruled in favour of the employee and ordered the employer to pay 30,000 yuan ($4,400). The court based its ruling on the fact that the social media exchanges were 'fixed and periodic rather than temporary or incidental”, which should then be identified as “overtime work and deserving of payment”.

The court also stated that a non-fixed working hours system requires written authorisation from the local labour administration, but, in this case, the company did not secure this.

It is important for employers, especially where working with social media and instant messaging tools has become the rule, to ensure they fulfil contractual forms and regulations regarding the relationship and working hours to prevent overtime demands.