8: Are you coming to our court to sue us?

In Fengxian County, at the same hotel as before, Zhou Yun put down his luggage.

It was already evening, and since the Court session was scheduled for 9 AM the next day, it would be too late to arrive tomorrow.

A small county town actually had its advantages. Zhou Yun strolled leisurely through the streets, making plans in his mind.

After the Court session this time, he didn't plan to return immediately. He would wait five working days and then go straight to the Court to file a lawsuit!

After filing the lawsuit, the Court might have two responses: the first would be mediation, possibly followed by a confidentiality agreement.

After all, it was the Court; it had to save face.

This was also Zhou Yun's most likely estimation... he never intended to go head-to-head with the Court from the start.

But one should consider defeat before victory. It was possible that this Court felt it had done nothing wrong and would fight back. At that point, he would have to stand firm!

If that happened, he would definitely offend this Court.

If it really came to that, Zhou Yun had already decided to film this case and post it online, with the title: 'My First Case: I Sue the Court in Court!'

In life, when doing things, one cannot be afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind. Either don't do it, or do it completely.

If the Court wanted to fight hard, he had to be even harder than the Court to make Fengxian County Court famous.

At that time, the Lawyers Association in Jinghai City might also cause trouble, but... he was already targeted by the Lawyers Association anyway. Many lice don't itch, and many debts don't worry him.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yun felt completely relaxed.

The next morning, Zhou Yun sat up from his bed and checked the time. It was August 20th.

It was raining outside, but there was no cool feeling; instead, it was a bit muggy.

Half an hour later, he had already arrived at the entrance of the Arbitration Committee.

Although the case was secondary, Liu Yonghua and his father had both come.

Seeing Liu Fusheng a bit nervous, Zhou Yun smiled and comforted him, "Old gentleman, don't be nervous. We are maintaining our legitimate rights and interests according to the law; there's no need to fear them."

Soon, they entered the arbitration tribunal, where they found three people sitting inside.

Arbitrator Tang Cuitong saw Zhou Yun enter and smiled, "Liu Fusheng? And Lawyer Zhou? You're all here, right?"

Seeing Zhou Yun look a bit puzzled, Tang Cuitong added, "It's like this, Lawyer Zhou. I am the chief arbitrator, and my surname is Tang. We are temporarily trying to see if we can mediate this dispute."

"These two are from Yuanhe Human Resources Company: General Manager Shi, the company's legal representative, and Liu Ming, their legal affairs representative."

Zhou Yun looked at the two upon hearing this, then nodded in greeting.

However, General Manager Shi on the other side completely ignored him, instead letting out a snort from his nose.

Lawyer, what's a lawyer? In this small county town, connections are king!

The lawyers in this county who did well were all well-connected. What was an outsider lawyer pretending for!

Tang Cuitong frowned slightly but still said, "Then let's try to mediate first. After all, it's not a big deal, so let's try our best to mediate if we can."

"Lawyer Zhou, what are your thoughts?"

Zhou Yun smiled upon hearing this, "We can mediate, but the compensation amount cannot be less than sixty percent of the requested amount."

The requested compensation amount was around 110,000, so sixty percent would be 66,000.

They knew their own situation; some of their claims were difficult to provide evidence for, such as the annual leave. According to the principle of 'whoever asserts, must prove,' they needed to prove they hadn't taken leave.

However, in practice, this proof was very difficult.

For example, how would one normally provide evidence for this? Company attendance records, company personnel records, and witness testimonies from colleagues.

The first two, in a regular company, should be essential.

So, some people might be curious: if these evidences are in the company's hands, how do I provide proof? Don't worry about this.

Article 6 and Article 39 of the 'Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law' stipulate that employees are responsible for providing evidence for their claims, and if the evidence is held and managed by the employer, the employer shall provide it.

This means the burden of proof is reversed. If the employer cannot produce it, then the employer will bear the responsibility.

However, according to Article 50 of the 'Labor Contract Law,' attendance records, for example, only need to be kept by the employer for two years.

So, in many labor disputes, it usually ends up supporting two years of annual leave compensation... these are a lawyer's experience.

If the employee is a bit smarter, when communicating with their superior, they can use chat tools like WeChat or phone recordings to discuss annual leave. If the superior confirms no annual leave was taken, then this can also be used as evidence.

Therefore, Zhou Yun was willing to mediate, and Liu Fusheng and his son nearby also agreed.

However, he hadn't even finished speaking when Shi Yongqiang on the other side had already started cursing.

"Sixty my ass! Sixty percent! I won't give a single cent! I've been running a company in this county for so many years, and I've never heard that temporary workers have to be compensated after being let go!"

"Besides, he wasn't an employee of my company; my company just paid him. He worked at the Court. What does that have to do with me now?"

"Yes, what kind of labor contract was signed? Look, we have evidence."

Zhou Yun said, "General Manager Shi, please don't be anxious..."

"Anxious about what? So what if you're a lawyer? Ah, can a lawyer talk nonsense? I'm telling you, if this were twenty years ago, would a young man like you dare to talk to me like that?"

Zhou Yun smiled upon hearing this, then turned his head and said, "Comrade Arbitrator, you see, I agreed to mediate, but they're not willing. So, let's just proceed as we should."

Tang Cuitong was also very helpless. She didn't want to get involved in this case, but there was no choice; she could only open the Court session.

The other two arbitrators arrived, and the arbitration tribunal began its session.

On one side was an extremely experienced lawyer, while on the other was a novice legal affairs representative who only relied on a 'labor contract.'

"Although this is a labor contract, according to the other party, Liu Fusheng was a dispatched worker, dispatched by their company to Fengxian County Court."

"So, formally speaking, this is completely a labor dispatch, and the strict regulation for labor dispatch is that there is a clear labor relationship between the dispatched worker and the labor dispatch agency."

"I think there's no need to say anything else; they themselves have admitted it."

This case was that simple; as long as the other party admitted it was labor dispatch, it was fine.

Shi Yongqiang looked at Little Liu: "What does the other party mean? What do you mean 'we admitted it ourselves'? Did we say anything?"

Little Liu looked bewildered: "General Manager Shi, I don't know either."

Never mind, he had connections anyway. Shi Yongqiang said directly, "What you say is useless. Anyway, I'm telling you, it's absolutely impossible for me to pay this money!"

"If you have the guts, sue me. Sue however you want, ah, see if I'll pay!"

"Damn it, I've never seen such troublemakers. Aren't you just trying to extort money? I just won't give it!"

Hearing this, Liu Yonghua on the side also couldn't hold back.

"Who's extorting money? With just that sentence, I'm telling you I'll sue to the end. If the county can't handle it, I'll go to the city. If the city can't handle it, I'll go to the province. I don't believe it!"

You can't bully people like this.

Seeing that both sides seemed about to argue, Tang Cuitong quickly stopped them. After confirming that both sides had nothing more to say, she announced the end.

"Don't argue, General Manager Shi, you go first."

Having both parties leave separately was necessary. When the Court encountered some special situations, they would let people leave directly through the back door.

For example, in some criminal cases, if a defense lawyer was tactless and spoke inappropriately, they would be directly blocked by the victim's family members afterward and could only be escorted by the Court out through the back door.

Otherwise, what could be done? Arrest all those people?

After Shi Yongqiang and others left, Tang Cuitong then said, "Alright, Lawyer Zhou, you can leave too. Don't argue with the other party; it's unnecessary."

The three arrived at the entrance of the Arbitration Committee. Liu Yonghua couldn't help but say, "Lawyer Zhou, you saw it, right? That person is a hooligan."

Zhou Yun smiled upon hearing this, "Liu, let me tell you again, never be anxious when filing a lawsuit. We need to make the other party anxious, understand?"

"Tomorrow, I'll go to the Court. It will be interesting then. Perhaps Shi Yongqiang might even beg to give you money, who knows."

Huh? Beg to give us money?

...

It was already the morning of August 21st. Zhou Yun, with his bag, left the hotel again and went directly to Fengxian County Court.

Counting it, this was his first time entering a Court since his transmigration.

It was the same as usual: first, take a number at the case filing hall and wait for it to be called.

After waiting for about forty minutes, he finally heard his number called. Zhou Yun quickly went to the window and handed in his complaint and other case filing materials.

Dai Xinrong, who was thirty years old this year and had been working at the case filing window for several years, flipped through the materials and asked, "Labor dispute?"

"Yes, the Arbitration Committee failed to accept it within the time limit, so I came to file a lawsuit," Zhou Yun said with a smile.

Dai Xinrong said in surprise, "Failed to accept within the time limit? Is that still happening now?"

To be honest, now it was difficult for the Court to accept cases, but the Arbitration Committee would almost always accept them.

"You can check the receipt. It's been five working days since I submitted the materials, but there's been no result, so I can only come to you to file a lawsuit."

Dai Xinrong took out the receipt, looked at it, and said, "It really is. What's going on? Let me see..."

As she spoke, Dai Xinrong took out the complaint. When she saw it, her eyes immediately went blank.

Because the defendant column of the complaint clearly stated a unit she was extremely familiar with: Fengxian County Court.

The legal representative column even had a name she often heard: the Court President...

Raising her head, Dai Xinrong looked at Zhou Yun: "You, you... you came to the Court, and then sued our Court?"

Zhou Yun nodded: "Yes, there's no regulation now that says who should handle it if I sue your Court, so I can only submit the complaint to you first."

"Is there a problem?"

Dai Xinrong gave a wry smile: "No problem... I guess I know why the Arbitration Committee had no result."

Having worked here for so many years, this was truly a first—like a young woman getting married for the first time!