Event Overview

In early September 2023, after obtaining a marriage certificate, Li applied to the company for 10 days of marriage leave before the National Day holiday. The company did not agree to Li's application for marriage leave, nor did it agree to his subsequent application for extending marriage leave. Li is unsure if he can request compensation from the company for the unused marriage leave.

Lawyer Interpretation

There are two opinions on whether employers need to provide compensation for workers who have not taken wedding leave:

The first viewpoint holds that marriage leave is a legal right of workers, and workers who have not taken marriage leave should receive reasonable compensation. If it is only because the current laws do not clearly stipulate that compensation should be given for not taking wedding leave, it does not support workers to request compensation for the employer's refusal to approve their wedding leave, which violates the principle of fairness and is not conducive to the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of workers. In the Intermediate People's Court of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province (2016) Xiang 31 Min Zhong 455 case, the court held this view and supported the worker's request for unpaid marriage leave to be converted into wages.

The second viewpoint is that the current laws and regulations do not require employers to compensate for unpaid marriage leave converted into wages, and there is no legal basis for workers to request compensation. In cases such as Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court (2018) Hu 01 Min Zhong No. 10794, Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court (2020) Hu 02 Min Zhong No. 846, Haidian District People's Court (2023) Jing 0108 Min Chu No. 22068, and Fengtai District People's Court (2023) Jing 0106 Min Chu No. 9876, the courts all hold this view, citing the lack of legal basis for a lawsuit claiming that an employee demands the employer to pay unpaid marriage leave wages, Not supported.

In practice, employers are unable to determine the marital status of workers and therefore actively arrange for them to take wedding leave. Therefore, workers should actively apply to the employer and obtain approval before taking wedding leave. If the employer does not approve the employee's marriage leave, most places also do not support the employee's request for salary conversion.