"Industrial injury private agreement" has been fulfilled, can it be reversed?

Date:2024-12-23 14:49:43  Views:135

Brief of the case

    In October 2022, Zhang joined a construction company to take charge of a hydropower project, and the two sides did not sign a written labor contract. The company insured group injury insurance for the project, but was unable to provide a list of participants. In the same month, Zhang was injured by a water drill while working, and the construction company paid all the medical expenses.

    In January 2023, the construction company and Zhang reached an agreement and signed a "Agreement", agreeing that Zhang's losses caused by the accident will be compensated by the construction company for more than 27,000 yuan at a time, and Zhang shall not claim rights to the construction company for any reason afterwards. The two sides fulfilled the agreement, and the construction company paid more than 27,000 yuan in compensation to Zhang, and Zhang issued a receipt.

    After the signing of the agreement, although the construction company purchased the group industrial injury insurance, but the industrial injury insurance service center can not query the real name registration list of the construction company, Zhang can not receive industrial injury insurance treatment, Zhang then applied to the relevant agencies for industrial injury identification and labor ability appraisal. 

    In February 2023, Zhang's injury was recognized as a work-related injury by the municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. In November 2023, according to the identification of relevant agencies, Zhang Mou constituted a tenth level disability. Zhang then applied for labor arbitration to the labor dispute arbitration committee, and ruled that the total amount of compensation for industrial injury after Zhang was discharged was 157,000 yuan. 

    Zhang then asked the construction company to pay more than 130,000 yuan of industrial injury insurance treatment. The labor dispute arbitration committee supported Zhang's application in accordance with the law, and after the construction company refused to accept the arbitration result, it filed a lawsuit with the Wugang City Court.

Court decision

    The court held that although Zhang and the construction company did not sign a written labor contract, it has constituted a de facto labor relationship, and the construction company should purchase work-related injury insurance for Zhang in accordance with the law. 

    Although the construction company participated in the group industrial injury insurance for the engineering project it undertook, it failed to provide the list of industrial injury insurance for the project personnel, and did not purchase industrial injury insurance for Zhang alone. According to the law, if an employee of an employer who should participate in work-related injury insurance but does not participate in work-related injury insurance suffers a work-related injury, the employer shall pay the expenses in accordance with the work-related injury insurance benefits and standards stipulated in the Regulations on work-related injury Insurance. Although the agreement reached between the construction company and Zhang has been completed, it was reached before the identification of industrial injury and the identification of labor ability. At this time, Zhang lacked a clear understanding of his own injury and the legal items and standards of industrial injury compensation, and the compensation amount signed by the two parties was only more than 27,000 yuan. It is far lower than the total amount of more than 157,000 yuan that Zhang should enjoy according to law, which leads to the obvious imbalance of the obligations of the construction company, violates the principle of fairness, and seriously damages Zhang's legitimate rights and interests as a worker. 

    According to Article 32 of the Notice of the Hunan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security on the issuance of Several Standards for Arbitration of Labor and Personnel Disputes in Hunan Province (Trial), "When a worker is injured at work, before the conclusion of the identification of the injury and the evaluation of the ability to work is made, the employer and the worker reach an agreement on the injury insurance treatment, If the payment standard agreed by both parties is obviously lower than the legal standard and has been actually performed, and the worker claims that the agreement is invalid, the agreement may be deemed invalid; After the conclusion of the determination of the injury and the appraisal of the working capacity has been made, the worker shall, within the time limit for arbitration, request the employer to make up the difference according to the statutory standard, and may be given support." The court found the Agreement invalid according to law. 

    In summary, the court ruled that the construction company paid Zhang a total of more than 130,000 yuan for various industrial injury insurance benefits.

Judge's statement

    Work-related injury insurance is mandatory by the state. If the employer fails to pay work-related injury insurance for the employee according to law, it shall bear the corresponding work-related injury insurance compensation liability. The industrial injury compensation agreement is related to the personal rights and interests of the workers, if there is a major misunderstanding or unfair agreement, the workers request to cancel, the people's court should support. If the agreement is reached before the determination of the injury and the conclusion of the evaluation of the working ability, and the payment standard agreed by the two parties is significantly lower than the legal standard, even if the actual performance has been completed, the agreement may be deemed invalid, and the employer shall still make up the difference to the worker according to the legal standard.

     In real life, due to the unequal status between the obligor and the compensation right holder, information asymmetry, the urgency of dispute resolution, avoiding cumbersome procedures and other factors, the serious imbalance of rights and obligations of the "industrial injury private agreement" often occurs. The judge hereby reminds that after the occurrence of a work-related accident, the laborer or the employer shall reasonably determine the amount of compensation through equal and voluntary consultation on the premise that the results of the identification of the work-related injury and the assessment of the working ability have been made, and the items and standards of the statutory work-related injury treatment are clear, so as to ensure that the injured laborer enjoys the due treatment and avoid the subsequent risk of a party's remorse.

    This article is transferred from the "Shandong High Law" wechat public number, thank you!