Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing the world, but can companies lay off employees in the name of AI? The Chinese court has given a very important decision on this question. Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court has clearly said that no employee can be fired from the job just because of the introduction of AI. This decision has come at a time when there is intense discussion around the world about the threat to jobs due to AI. Giving priority to the rights of employees, the court has given a clear message to the companies that adopting technology is a different thing, but replacing humans will not be so easy.
According to media reports, the entire matter is related to an employee named Zhou, who started working as a quality assurance supervisor in an AI company in 2022. He received a salary of about 25,000 yuan every month. Their job was to check the output of large language models, match questions and filter out incorrect content. With time, the company started handing over many of their responsibilities to the AI system. Later the company offered him a new role with lower salary, in which the salary was reduced to 15,000 yuan. Zhou refused to accept this, after which the company fired him.
Zhou challenged the company's decision and took the matter to arbitration. The arbitration panel declared the company's actions illegal and ruled in Zhou's favor. The company approached Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court against this, but it did not get relief there either. The court clearly said that merely changing the role of an employee through AI does not constitute a legal basis for termination of employment. The court also held that the offer of a lower paying job cannot be considered as fair re-employment. This decision has strengthened the rights of the employees.
The most important question in this case was whether changes in work caused by AI could be considered a “major change in circumstances” under China's labor law. The court answered this in the negative. The court said that the company could not prove that Zhou's original work had become completely impossible. This clearly means that AI can make some work easier, but it does not immediately eliminate the human role. Even before this, in another similar case in China, the court had given a decision in favor of the employee. This decision is a warning to companies around the world that it is important to respect the rights of employees while adopting AI.
