Based on the particularity of the medical industry, the training and growth of medical personnel need to go through a systematic and long process, and organizing and arranging overseas training is an important means for medical institutions to improve the professional and technical level of medical personnel. In order to prevent the loss of talents, medical institutions often sign advanced study agreements with medical staff, clearly stipulating the service period, but some medical staff will still leave early due to personal reasons, resulting in the loss of medical institutions. Recently, the People's Court of Liangping District, Chongqing Municipality heard a case of personnel dispute caused by the unauthorized resignation of medical personnel during the service period after receiving hospital-funded training, medical personnel should uphold the principle of good faith and actively fulfill the content of the agreement and commitment, and their unilateral resignation behavior is contrary to the "integrity" advocated by the core values of socialism, and the court has clearly denied this kind of breach of trust through the judgment, aiming to form a good social custom with judicial guidance.
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Where is the integrity of the resignation?
Claims for resignation during the period of service
In July 2011, Xiao Ou, a 37-year-old doctor, was hired to work in the ophthalmology department of a hospital in Liangping District, Chongqing, and the two parties signed an employment contract with a public institution. After 7 years of work, due to Xiaoou's outstanding work performance and his willingness to further study, the hospital decided to fund him to go to a hospital in Chongqing for a 12-month ophthalmology professional training. Before departure, Xiaoou and the hospital signed an agreement for professional and technical personnel to go out for further study, and agreed that the hospital should pay for further study fees, accommodation fees, travel expenses and other expenses, after the end of the study, Xiaoou should return to the hospital on time, and shall not propose to transfer jobs or resign during the ten-year service period, otherwise all expenses paid by the hospital during the study period shall be refunded, and liquidated damages shall be paid.
During the year of further study, the hospital paid the study fee according to the contract, and also issued 108934 yuan of study subsidy and holiday allowance to Xiaoou, and paid social insurance and housing provident fund for him.
After the completion of the study, Xiao Ou returned to the hospital and worked for only one and a half years, and then submitted a resignation letter to the hospital and submitted his resignation in writing. In the letter, he said that he had resigned for personal reasons and would leave in a month.
The hospital agreed to Xiao Ou's resignation, but required to go through the resignation procedures in accordance with the previously signed agreement for professional and technical personnel to go out for further study, that is, Xiao Ou needed to return the study subsidy paid by the hospital to him during the study period, and bear a total of 150,000 yuan in liquidated damages. The above request was rejected by Xiao Ou, and the two sides broke up unhappily.
A month later, Xiao Ou forcibly left the hospital without completing the relevant resignation procedures, and then applied to the Chongqing Liangping District Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Commission for arbitration, requesting a ruling to terminate the employment contract with the hospital and terminate the personnel relationship. The hospital immediately filed a counter-application, requesting that Xiaoou be awarded a refund of 115,121.80 yuan in further education subsidies and 30,000 yuan in liquidated damages.
The Liangping District Labor Arbitration Commission arbitrated that Xiaoou should refund 59,884 yuan to the hospital for further study and other expenses and bear compensation of 25,250 yuan, totaling 85,134 yuan, before the personnel relationship between the two parties can be terminated. Dissatisfied with the arbitration result, Xiaoou sued the Liangping District Court, requesting a judgment to terminate the employment contract with the hospital, terminate the personnel relationship, require the hospital to pay unpaid wages, overtime wages and other arrears, and refuse to compensate the hospital for compensation.
If you resign, you will be responsible
"As a medical technician, I need to improve my skills and learn, and when I am faced with hard-won training opportunities, I will sign the agreement even if there are unequal terms." In Xiaoou's view, based on the unequal relationship between himself and the unit, signing an agreement with a ten-year service period is like signing an unequal "deed of sale".
"Xiao Ou participated in the training is a qualification obtained by his own application, the training itself is not mandatory, and we fully respect his own opinions when signing the agreement, and there is no unequal clause." The hospital pointed out that the agreement was signed by both parties after Xiaoou's approval, and the service period and liquidated damages agreed in it were legal and valid, and should be protected by law.
The hospital believes that sending Xiaoou to learn medical knowledge and technology and master updated medical skills is to increase career development opportunities and comprehensively enhance the competitive advantage of the profession from the perspective of Xiaoou personally. However, Xiaoou's unauthorized resignation not only caused the loss of hospital talents, but also caused the loss of hospital training investment. Xiaoou not only had no intention of sharing the losses for the hospital, but also left his post without completing the relevant resignation procedures after submitting his resignation, which is a serious breach of contract and should bear the liability for breach of contract in accordance with the contract.
After the trial, the Liangping District Court held that Xiaoou, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, had legal effect when there was no evidence to prove that the hospital had fraud, coercion, and taking advantage of the danger of others.
Xiaoou violated the agreement on the service period of professional and technical personnel going out for further study during the agreed service period, unilaterally terminated the employment contract, and should refund the hospital travel expenses of 22,950 yuan, the study subsidy of 48,199 yuan, and pay liquidated damages of 30,000 yuan, totaling 101149 yuan. At the same time, Xiao Ou has fulfilled the service period of 19 months from the time he returned to work in the hospital after the end of the training to the time when he resigned and left the hospital, and the training fee and liquidated damages should be apportioned according to the service period of ten years agreed by both parties. In the end, the court ruled that the employment contract between the two parties was terminated, and Xiaoou should return 59,884 yuan for hospital further study and other expenses, and bear 25,250 yuan in liquidated damages, totaling 85,134 yuan, and rejected Xiaoou's other litigation claims.
■ Trial analysis
Failure to perform obligations as agreed in the contract is a breach of contract
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of medical personnel who resign within the agreed service period after going out for further study, resulting in an upward trend in personnel disputes involving medical institutions and medical personnel. What is the validity of the agreement signed between the medical institution and the medical staff for professionals to study abroad? Is it a breach of contract for a medical staff to resign within the agreed service period? If a medical worker breaches the contract, what is the scope of compensation? These issues should be considered from the following three aspects:
First, contracts established in accordance with the law are protected by law
A contract is an agreement between civil subjects to establish, modify, or terminate a civil legal relationship. Article 464 of the Civil Code stipulates that contracts established in accordance with law are protected by law. The so-called lawfully established contract refers to the form and procedure of the contract that follow the basic principles of fairness, voluntariness, honesty and credibility, and comply with the provisions of the law; The content of the contract does not violate the mandatory provisions of laws and regulations, and does not violate public order and good customs. A legally established contract is legally binding on both parties, and the parties must fully perform their obligations in accordance with the agreement.
The Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Forwarding the Opinions of the Ministry of Personnel on the Trial Implementation of the Personnel Employment System in Public Institutions stipulates that public institutions and employees shall, in accordance with the requirements of relevant national laws, policies, and these Opinions, and on the basis of equality, voluntariness, and consensus, clearly define the work-related rights and obligations of the employing unit and the hired personnel by signing an employment contract. Clauses such as probationary period, training and continuing education may be stipulated in the employment contract by mutual agreement between the parties. In accordance with the above provisions, Xiaoou and the hospital signed an employment contract and an agreement for professional and technical personnel to go out for further study and study on the basis of equality, voluntariness and consensus, and made agreements on personnel employment, salary, service period, study abroad, and liability for breach of contract. Both contracts are legally established contracts and are binding on both parties, and both parties shall perform their rights and obligations in good faith in accordance with the agreement.
Second, failure to perform or fail to perform contractual obligations as agreed is a breach of contract
Breach of contract includes non-performance of contractual obligations and performance of contractual obligations not in accordance with the agreement, including complete non-performance, improper performance, partial performance, anticipatory breach of contract, etc. When one party breaches the contract, the other party has the right to demand that it bear the liability for breach of contract in accordance with the law.
Article 17 of the "Regulations on the Personnel Management of Public Institutions" stipulates that a staff member of a public institution may terminate an employment contract by notifying the public institution in writing 30 days in advance. However, unless otherwise agreed by both parties on the termination of the employment contract. In this case, Xiao Ou and the hospital agreed in the agreement that Xiao Ou should return to work in the hospital on time after the completion of the study, and the service period was ten years, and Xiao Ou should not propose to transfer his job or resign during the agreed service period, otherwise he should refund all the fees paid by the hospital for his further study (including tuition fees, accommodation fees, welfare and study subsidies, etc.) during the study period, and pay liquidated damages. This agreement is a separate agreement for the termination of the employment contract, and both parties shall fully perform their obligations in accordance with the agreement. Xiaoou's unilateral resignation after performing the 19-month service period is a breach of contract for partial performance of contractual obligations.
At the same time, the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Forwarding the Opinions of the Ministry of Personnel on the Trial Implementation of the Personnel Employment System in Public Institutions stipulates that the employment contract may be terminated if both the employing unit and the hired personnel reach a consensus through consultation. Although Xiaoou notified the hospital in writing 30 days in advance to terminate the employment contract, the main person in charge of the hospital made it clear that he would not agree to terminate until Xiaoou refunded the expenses for out-of-office training, and the two parties did not reach an agreement on the termination of the contract. Hou Xiaoou forcibly left the hospital, which was a breach of contract to suspend the performance of contractual obligations.
Third, the contract shall be terminated due to breach of contract, and it shall bear the liability for breach of contract
Article 563 of the Civil Code stipulates the relevant circumstances for the termination of a contract, including the termination of a contract due to a breach of contract. If the contract cannot be performed due to the breach of contract by one party, the non-breaching party may require the breaching party to bear the liability for breach of contract and compensate for the losses caused by the breach. The ways to bear the liability for breach of contract include continued performance, taking remedial measures, compensation for losses, etc. If there is an agreement on liquidated damages in the contract, the breaching party shall also pay liquidated damages in accordance with the agreement.
In this case, Xiao Ou's unilateral resignation made it impossible to achieve the purpose of the contract, and the hospital should return the training fee paid by the hospital for his overseas study and pay liquidated damages in accordance with the agreement between the two parties. At the same time, with reference to Article 22 of the Labor Contract Law, the liquidated damages paid by Xiaoou shall not exceed the training expenses that should be apportioned for the unfulfilled part of the service period. According to the performance of the agreement between the two parties in the early stage, the training fees and liquidated damages that should be refunded by Xiaoou can be proportionally apportioned during the ten-year service period agreed by both parties.
■Expert comments
Promote honesty and trustworthiness with judicial credibility
He Hongbo, associate professor of the Party School of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee
Honesty and commitment are both traditional virtues and legal principles.
Honesty is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, which has a long history in Chinese culture, is an important part of the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, is the core of personal morality and the cornerstone of social ethics, and embodies the moral norms and codes of conduct of individuals, organizations, societies and countries.
As the basic principle of law, good faith is mainly the basic norm established for civil legal acts and civil activities with a transactional nature, which is to absorb the market ethics and moral norms of honesty and credibility into the legal rules, and require civil actors to be honest and trustworthy and keep their promises, so the principle of good faith is called the highest guiding principle of civil law, especially the law of obligations, and is even enshrined as the "imperial principle".
The Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Forwarding the Opinions of the Ministry of Personnel on the Trial Implementation of the Personnel Employment System in Public Institutions stipulates that the two parties may agree on terms such as probationary period, training and continuing education in the employment contract after consultation between the parties, giving the parties the right to negotiate and agree on a wider range of rights than ordinary labor contracts in the process of signing the employment contract, but the enjoyment of the rights is also required for both parties to perform more active fiduciary obligations. In this case, the medical staff and the medical institution signed an agreement on the study of professionals going out for further study, and the two parties made a detailed agreement on the training form, training time limit, related fees, service period, and liability for breach of contract for the medical staff, but the medical staff unilaterally chose to leave the post after completing the training and refused to fulfill the commitment of the service period. The people's court confirmed the legality and validity of the agreement between the two parties to study abroad in accordance with the law, and clarified that the medical personnel had breached the contract unilaterally and failed to fully perform the agreed service period, so as to reasonably determine the liability for breach of contract that the medical personnel need to bear due to dishonest performance, not only clarified the rights and obligations of both parties from the perspective of judicial adjudication, gave a negative evaluation of the medical personnel's breach of contract, but also vigorously promoted the traditional Chinese virtues from the perspective of honesty and credibility, which is a typical case of promoting the core values of socialism. It will help to standardize and adjust the dishonest chaos of some medical personnel who fully enjoy the benefits of the state and units in the introduction and training of talents on the one hand, and "change jobs" through breach of contract on the other hand.
At the same time, this case also fully reminds and explains the duty of good faith that should be paid attention to in the performance of the contract from the three levels of contract establishment, modification and termination. First, both parties to the contract should truthfully disclose important information related to the contract at the stage of contract formation to ensure that the other party makes decisions on the basis of full understanding. It is necessary to uphold the principle of good faith in conducting consultations, and must not maliciously negotiate or deliberately mislead the other party, and must not take advantage of one's dominant position to obtain illegal favorable conditions. Second, when one party to the contract is unable to perform its responsibilities on time or in accordance with the terms of the contract for some reason, it shall notify the other party in a timely manner, follow the principles of fairness and good faith, and change the contract by consensus to ensure that the rights and interests of both parties are protected. Third, both parties to the contract shall, based on reasonable reasons such as force majeure, change of circumstances, and consensus, terminate the contract in good faith when the contract cannot be continued to perform, and assist the other party in taking corresponding measures.
The principle of good faith not only affects the signing and performance of contracts, but also permeates all aspects of our lives, affecting our behavior, decision-making and relationships with others. When exercising civil rights, performing civil obligations, and bearing civil liabilities, they should be honest, honor promises, and keep promises, and jointly create an honest, trustworthy, harmonious and stable social environment.
Source: People's Court Daily