TANY JIN V. LABOUR BUREAU OF DANGTU COUNTY
CASE OF NOT PERFORMING THE DUTY TO PROTECT THE RIGHT TO THE PERSON AND THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY--
Plaintiff: Tang Jin, male, 36 years of age, employee with Building Materials Company of Dangtu County, Anhui Province.
Defendant: Labour Bureau of Dangtu County, Anhui Province.
Legal Representative: Guan Qicai, Director.
Plaintiff Tang Jin lodged an administrative suit in Dangtu County People's Court on the ground that defendant Labour Bureau of Dangtu County, Anhui Province didn't perform the lawful duty to protect the right to the person and the right of property.
Plaintiff claimed: plaintiff submitted written application to Labour Bureau of Dangtu County, asking it to perform the lawful duty to protect the lawful rights and interests of laborers and to reply. However, two months passed without any response to the plaintiff's letter from the Labour Bureau. And the plea was to order the Labour Bureau to perform its lawful duty.
Defendant pleaded: defendant had passed the letter on to Materials Bureau of Dangtu County as a letter from the people, so it had performed its lawful duty in accordance with law. And the claim of the defendant couldn't stand.
Dangtu County People's Court ascertained the following through trial: Plaintiff Tang Jin wrote a letter about Building Materials Company of Dangxu County, where he worked, alleging that it abused its powers in violation of relevant laws and regulations and both delayed the payment of and made unreasonable deductions from his economic income. He asked the Labour Bureau of Dangxu County to investigate and correct the situation. This letter was mailed to the Labour Bureau of Dangxu County on January 1, 1996. On Januaty 4, Guan Qicai, Director of the Bureau, wrote an order on the letter:" pass this on to the Materials Bureau to deal with." After this, neither did the Bureau supervise and check on the matter raised in the letter, nor was any reply made to Tang Jin.
The facts above were supported by the statements of the parties and written evidence. The facts were clear and the evidence was valid and proficient, which were enough to ascertain the facts of the case.
Dangxu County People's Court held: Paragraph 2, Article 88 of Labour Law of the People' Republic of China stipulated: "Any organization or individual shall have the right to inform and bring charges against any act that violates labour discipline and the laws and regulations." Plaintiff Tang Jin deemed that Building Materials Company infringed upon his lawful rights and interests in violence of labour laws and regulations, and wrote a letter requesting the matter to be looked into, which was the exercise of the legitimate right of a citizen. Paragraph 2, Article 9 stipulated:" The labour administrative departments of the local people's governments above the county level are responsible for labour work within their administrative regions." Defendant Labour Bureau of Dangtu County was the administrative department responsible for labour work within the administrative region of Dangtu County, and it was appropriate for Tang Jin to complain to it for labour matters. Article 85 of the Labour Law stipulated: "The labour administrative departments of the people's governments above the county level shall exercise supervision and examination over the employers with regard to the implementation of labour discipline and the laws and regulations. They have the right to stop acts that violate the labour discipline and the laws and regulations and order the parties concerned to correct." Article 86 provided the labour administrative departments with the means to carry out the duty of supervision and examination, and Chapter 12 provided for the authority of the labour administrative departments to dispose of the acts of employers in violence of labour laws and regulations. All these provisions showed that Labour Deparment of Dangtu County had both the duty and the power to supervise, examine and dispose of the situation of the employers' compliance with labour laws and regulations. Article 87 of the Labour Law stipulated:" The relevant departments of the people's governments above the county level shall exercise supervision over the implementation of the labour discipline and the laws and regulations within the scope of their functions." Materials Department was a department of the people's government and had the power to supervise the situation of the Building Materials Company's compliance with labour laws and regulations. However, it was without power to dispose of acts in violence of laws. Labour Bureau of Dangtu County couldn't be considered to have performed its duty when it passed on a letter asking it to dispose of a situation in violation of law to the Materials Bureau, which was without the disposition power, while the Labour Bureau neither performed the duty of supervision and examination, nor inquired Materials Department concerning the results of the supervision or reply the one who wrote the letter. If it were enough to be considered to have performed their duty for administrative departments only to pass on the letters that fell within their scope of functions without supervision, implementation or replying the citizen who wrote the letter, the right of the citizens to inform and bring charges would have been void. Therefore the pleading by Labour Department of Dangxu County that it had already performed its duties couldn't stand. In view of the above, and in accordance with Section 3, Article 54 of Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, People's Court of Dangtu County held on April 23, 1996:
Defendant Labour Bureau of Dangtu County was ordered to supervise and examine according to law the situation of Building Materials Company of Dangxu County's compliance with labour laws and regulations, and to give written reply to Tang Jin himself in two months.
Court acceptance fee 100 yuan and other costs of action 200 yuan shall be born by Labour Bureau of Dangtu County.
After the judgment was handed down, both the plaintiff nor the defendant appealed, and the judgment has already gone into force.
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