A Shenzhen nurse who was diagnosed as mentally ill after getting involved in a wages dispute with her employer has won her lawsuit and 10,000 yuan (US$1,540) compensation.

Guo Junmei, a nurse at Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, petitioned authorities in December 2009 over her dissatisfaction with the hospital's bonus payment system.

The petition office in the Guangdong Province boom city suggested Guo take her problem straight to the local public health bureau.

Guo was ordered by her leader at the hospital on December 31 to go meet a person allegedly from that bureau.

Guo found out the doctor she was seeing was in fact Gao Beiling, a doctor at a local psychiatric hospital, who diagnosed Guo as suffering from a paranoid mental illness shortly after their chat.

When in January 2010 Guo refused to accept a new wage accounting method at her hospital, Chen Bin, hospital deputy president, announced Gao's diagnosis to Guo in front of her colleagues, saying she needed to rest and would be transferred to the hospital library to work.

Guo denied suffering any mental disorder and refused to be transferred. She took Gao and the two hospitals to court in August last year, alleging the hospital's public announcement of her "mental disorder" had damaged her reputation, asking for an apology and 20,000 yuan compensation.

The Shenzhen Futian People's Court on Friday agreed with Guo that her employer should apologize through a newspaper and pay 10,000 yuan. But the court also found Gao and her employer Corning Hospital not responsible.

Gao said she had been invited to diagnose Guo after the hospital told her Guo's work was important but she had been acting unusually. Guo's behavior threatened to create more serious problems, Gao alleged she was told, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.