In October 2026, the Workers’ Daily reported on employees who handle work groups after hours. One worker deals with more than 100 groups a day. Another has nearly 10,000 group chats. According to the report, this work brings no overtime pay at all, and a late reply can bring a customer complaint and a cut in performance pay.
Jiang Yiqin, a deputy presiding judge at the Daxing District People’s Court in Beijing, was quoted as saying: “Employers cannot treat ‘always online’ as an implied duty of workers.”