"Resignation certificate" mainly proves that the labor relationship between the employee and the original employer has been terminated. This certificate may be used when joining a new unit, handling social security transfer, applying for unemployment benefits, etc. It is also an important evidence when a labor dispute occurs.
According to legal provisions, the employer should issue a "resignation certificate" to employees when they leave their jobs. If refusal to issue one causes losses, employees can arbitrate to safeguard their rights. However, if the employer adds false negative comments to the resignation certificate, what should the employee do? Xiaobai, who works in Shanghai, chose to file a lawsuit and sue his original employer for infringement of his reputation. The Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai recently reported the trial status of this case.
"Resignation certificate" lists "discipline violations" that hinder job hunting
Xiaobai joined the defendant Haomou Education Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. as a new media operations specialist in October 2022. In September of the following year, the company terminated the labor contract on the grounds that he had multiple serious disciplinary violations, and listed his disciplinary violations in the resignation certificate.
Zhou Heng, assistant judge of the Civil Tribunal of the Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai: Specific details include: making long-term private phone calls, spreading employees' personal privacy, insulting colleagues, wantonly spreading company rumors, privately recording other people's corporate WeChat chat records, making noises in the office area, playing with mobile phones for a long time and doing things unrelated to work, disobeying the company's arrangements, and is also characterized as "evil in nature, violating the employee handbook multiple times, resulting in serious disciplinary violations." The company terminated the labor contract for these reasons.
Originally, the purpose of obtaining a "resignation certificate" was to facilitate his job search, but the certificate Xiaobai received directly caused real trouble and obstacles to his job search.
Zhou Heng, assistant judge of the Civil Tribunal of Yangpu District People's Court in Shanghai: The plaintiff took this resignation certificate and applied for jobs at multiple companies. Three companies clearly refused to hire him because of these negative records. Among them, a biotechnology company in Shanghai directly cited "insulting colleagues, disobeying company arrangements, and serious disciplinary violations" in the rejection notice; the other two companies also stated that they were unable to verify the authenticity of the contents of the resignation certificate and had concerns about the plaintiff's professional ethics, and ultimately decided not to hire the employee.
Winning the labor arbitration and then filing a reputation lawsuit
In September 2023, Xiaobai applied for labor arbitration. The arbitration committee believed that the defendant company did not provide any evidence to prove the plaintiff's disciplinary violations, which was an illegal termination of the labor contract. The company was dissatisfied and applied to the court to revoke the arbitration award, but was rejected. Then, Xiaobai sued the court for infringing on his reputation through the "resignation certificate", requesting that the defendant company be ordered to make a written apology and compensate for economic losses, mental damage solatium totaling 20,000 yuan, and attorney fees of 2,000 yuan.
The defendant company was summoned by the court in accordance with the law and refused to respond in court without justifiable reasons. However, the court did not directly accept the plaintiff's claim, but comprehensively reviewed the facts and evidence of the case.
Xi Yi, deputy chief judge of the Civil Tribunal of Yangpu District People’s Court of Shanghai: The core basis is the legal documents that have been in effect before. Prior to this reputational lawsuit, the labor dispute between the two parties had gone through arbitration and judicial review procedures, and the (defendant) employer had participated in these processes. The ruling of the Labor Arbitration Commission and the effective civil ruling issued by the Intermediate People's Court have clearly determined that the company has not submitted any evidence to prove the various disciplinary violations claimed by it, and should bear the legal consequences of being unable to provide evidence.
In addition, the plaintiff also submitted a complete chain of evidence, including labor contracts, original resignation certificates, arbitration awards, civil rulings, employment rejection notices issued by three employers, social security payment records, attorney fee invoices, etc.
Xi Yi, deputy director of the Civil Tribunal of the Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai: These evidences can corroborate each other. They not only prove that the contents of the resignation certificate are inconsistent with the objective facts, but also prove that these untrue contents have actually produced damaging consequences.
Court: Adding negative and derogatory comments to the resignation certificate is an illegal infringement of reputation rights
After trial, the court held that the defendant company’s behavior was illegal and its subjective fault was obvious.
Xi Yi, deputy chief judge of the Civil Tribunal of the Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai: According to the provisions of the Labor Contract Law, the legal function of the resignation certificate is to objectively record basic information such as the labor contract period, date of revocation or termination, job position, and length of service in the unit. The purpose is to facilitate workers' re-employment and social security procedures. The law does not empower employers to make subjective evaluations of workers' conduct, professional ethics, and work performance in their resignation certificates. In this case, the negative contents written by the company in the resignation certificate amounted to an abuse of employment management rights and exceeded the legal boundaries. The subjective fault was very obvious.
Some people may think that the resignation certificate is only shown to a specific new unit, and the scope of dissemination is small, so it does not damage reputation. However, the court held that the plaintiff’s reputation had indeed been damaged.
Xi Yi, deputy chief judge of the Civil Tribunal of the Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai: The job market itself is an important part of "society", and a person's professional reputation is one of the core contents of his social evaluation. In this case, the plaintiff used this certificate to apply for a job, but was rejected by the employer one after another. This is not a subjective feeling, but an objective reduction in social evaluation that is proved by written evidence, which fully meets the core requirements of "reduced social evaluation" in the infringement of reputation rights.
The court also held that there was a direct causal relationship between the defendant company's issuance of false resignation certificates and the plaintiff's rejection of the job application, and the false evaluation and the damage. The court determined that the behavior of the defendant company constituted an infringement on the plaintiff's reputation. The first instance ruling ordered the defendant to apologize in writing and pay the plaintiff 18,000 yuan in solatium for economic losses and mental damage, and 2,000 yuan in attorney fees. The judgment has taken effect.
Judge: Certificate of resignation is not a tool for companies to exercise management rights
Sun Yong, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the Yangpu District People's Court of Shanghai, suggested that employers should clarify the legal boundaries of resignation certificates and not abuse their evaluation rights.
Sun Yong, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court: Employers must make it clear that the resignation certificate is a legal personnel document and is not a tool for the company to exercise "final management power", let alone retaliate against employees who have resigned. Its content has a legal scope and should be limited to objectively recording the basic facts of labor relations. Do not arbitrarily add subjective negative evaluations of employees, especially so-called "disciplinary violations" that have not been verified or have even been denied by legal procedures. If an employee does commit disciplinary violations during their employment, they should be handled in accordance with the rules and regulations during the employment relationship, and the evidence should be fixed, instead of waiting for the end of the employment relationship and then using legal documents such as resignation certificates to make negative evaluations beyond the scope of management. Standardizing labor management and respecting the personality rights of workers is not only the legal obligation of enterprises, but also can reduce such disputes from the source.
Sun Yong advises workers to get a resignation certificate when they leave, and check the content in a timely manner. If they find any false and derogatory records, they should raise objections to the unit as soon as possible and keep evidence of communication.
Sun Yong, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of the People's Court of Yangpu District, Shanghai: If you are blocked from applying for a job because of such false evidence, you must keep the employer's rejection notice, communication records and other materials. These are key evidence for subsequent rights protection. When your rights and interests are harmed, you can first negotiate with the unit to resolve the problem. If the negotiation fails, you can claim your rights through legal channels such as labor arbitration and civil litigation. The law will support the legitimate rights and interests of workers.
The adjudication of such disputes, on the one hand, provides clear legal guidance for workers to safeguard their rights and lowers the threshold for safeguarding their rights; on the other hand, it also draws clear behavioral boundaries for employers and guides companies to standardize their employment practices.
Sun Yong, member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice President of Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court: The ultimate goal is to build a more honest, fair and legal labor market environment, promote the healthy flow of talents, and achieve balanced protection of employment management rights and workers' personality rights.
