Female Teacher in China Takes 25 Years of Sick Leave, Finds Teaching Position Cancelled: Files Administrative Lawsuit and Demands Restoration of Position and Backpay

A female teacher in Heilongjiang, China, took “25 years” of sick leave, but she didn’t feel anything wrong. It wasn’t until she returned to school to apply for retirement that she found out that her teaching position had already been cancelled. She felt that her rights had been violated, so she applied to the middle school The court filed an administrative lawsuit to restore her teaching position, and the school must pay back her salary for the past 25 years.

The female teacher named Yao Zhirong graduated from the Physical Education Department of Harbin Normal University in 1983, and was then assigned to teach in No. 12 Middle School. In 1997, she took sick leave to go to Beijing for medical treatment. Unexpectedly, this leave lasted “25 years”. During this period, she did not return to school and work due to health problems. When the retirement age was reached in 2020, Yao Zhirong wanted to apply for retirement. When she returned to school, she found that the No. 12 Middle School she taught had already merged with the No. 20 Middle School, and the other party told her that her position had been cancelled a long time ago.

Yao Zhirong expressed dissatisfaction that in 2002, she asked the school about the suspension of salary (according to relevant regulations, teachers can receive 70% of the salary for sick leave), and the other party only replied that she would not be paid during the sick leave, and did not inform her The jobs for have been cancelled. Also, when she wanted to apply for medical insurance subsidies in 2008, the Social Security Bureau also told her that because she was a teacher and a state cadre, she could not receive medical insurance subsidies unless she resigned. She also rejected the proposal of resignation at that time. Therefore, her Teacher positions should always be there.

In September 2021, Yao Zhirong reported to the local education bureau about her “disappearance of teacher position for no reason”, hoping to restore her teaching staff. There was no information about Yao Zhirong in the school’s personnel file when it was under the management of the bureau, so it was impossible to restore her teacher establishment.

In October of the same year, Yao Zhirong proposed a review. In November of the same year, the Letters and Calls Bureau stated that the Education Bureau had mishandled the case and would require the Education Bureau to handle the case again. In May 2022, the Bureau of Letters and Calls officially replied to Yao Zhirong, pointing out that her requests for reinstatement of public teacher status, handling of teacher retirement procedures, and repayment of salary were not in compliance with the regulations, and if Yao Zhirong still filed complaints on the same grounds in the future, units at all levels will be rejected.

The angry Yao Zhirong filed an administrative lawsuit with the court, demanding that the local Education Bureau and Letters and Calls Bureau withdraw the reply to her, and the school should restore her teacher staffing and reissue a total of 900,000 yuan from January 2001 to July 2022 ( About NT$4 million) salary, and let her complete the retirement procedures as a teacher.

No. 20 Middle School said that when it merged with No. 12 Middle School and took over the permanent teachers of the school, it did not receive Yao Zhirong’s relevant files from the beginning to the end. The two parties did not have any employment relationship at all, so they refused to retire Yao Zhirong and make up her salary. .

The court also ruled that the lawsuit brought by Yao Zhirong was not within the scope of the court’s administrative litigation, so it was dismissed. Although Yao appealed, the second instance judgment has not yet been announced.