With the rapid development of the online live broadcast industry, online anchors have become an emerging job position, but the relationship between online anchors and companies has always been controversial. Recently, the People's Court of Pingnan County, Guigang City, Guangxi heard such a case. The court determined that the media company had a labor relationship with the anchor and ordered the company to pay corresponding financial compensation.
On April 25, 2021, Li Hui (pseudonym) served as an online anchor for a media company in Pingnan County. According to the agreement between the two parties, Li Hui works no less than 160 hours per month and takes 5 days off per month. The working hours are divided into day shift and evening shift. Li Hui chooses the evening shift, and her salary includes basic salary and commission.
On May 6, 2022, the media company notified Li Hui to stop broadcasting because she misunderstood that she was using a mobile phone during the live broadcast. On May 26, the media company removed Li Hui from the work group and informed her to move out of the company dormitory.
Li Hui applied for labor arbitration, requesting confirmation of the existence of a labor relationship with the media company, and claiming for financial compensation for terminating the labor relationship and twice the wage difference for not signing a written labor contract.
The arbitration committee ruled that the two parties had a labor relationship between April 25, 2021 and May 6, 2022. The media company paid Li Hui twice the salary difference for not signing a written labor contract, totaling more than 27,000 yuan, as well as a financial compensation of 9,750 yuan for the termination of the labor relationship.
The media company was dissatisfied and sued the Pingnan County People's Court. The company said that the two parties only have a cooperative relationship, not an employment relationship. Li Hui has the freedom to independently decide the time and content of the live broadcast. The company does not implement management, command, and supervision functions, and it cannot control whether Li Hui broadcasts live or the content of the live broadcast. In addition, Li Hui’s live broadcast account is managed by herself.
Li Hui claimed that the company imposed strict restrictions on her work, including contracts, rules and regulations, reprimands, fines, etc., so that she could only obey the company's management or be fired from the company, but could not decide on her own working methods.
After the trial, the court determined that the two parties had a labor relationship between April 25, 2021, and May 6, 2022. The company conducted daily labor management for Li Hui, formulated rules and regulations, and the two parties signed a cooperation agreement and agreed on wages and other benefits. These facts indicate the existence of a labor relationship. The court ordered the media company to pay twice the salary difference for not signing a written labor contract and financial compensation for terminating the labor relationship.