A Nanjing-based electronics firm has placed a ban on marriages between employees of the company.
The firm has published a guidebook stating that employees should refrain from getting married and ordering those who have already done so to decide on one partner leaving the company, the Nanjing Morning Post reported.
A human resources officer at the firm explained that managers at the company believe married couples inside the company spent too much time together, allowing their relationships to interfere with their job performances. That negatively affects their work and relationships with co-workers.
In addition, the company attempts to keep issues such as salaries and work assignments secret from employees, which is harder to do with couples employed.
However, the ban has triggered heated discussion among office workers and public debate.
One office worker said the policy directly interferes with employees' privacy and right to individual decision-making. Others have said they will go along with the policy, choosing to delay their marriages to save their jobs since the job market is intensely competitive at the moment.
Legal experts from Beijing Labor Supervision Department said there is no legal basis for companies to attempt to control office relationships and marriage. Any fired employees can sue the firm to protect their individual rights.
A Beijing-based Changji Law Office attorney said it was one's right to choose whether to marry or have children, and that any interference is prohibited according to the nation's marriage law. Firms can attempt to put forward regulations but they must follow the law.
The same attempt to regulate marriage was recently tried at a primary school in Harbin, according to news reports, and many female teachers divorced their husbands in order to receive special financial compensation for reimbursement of their heating costs. That's because the school regulations stipulate that married female teachers cannot apply for heating reimbursement.
(China Daily November 2, 2005)
