Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
“The company owes me at least twenty thousand in overtime pay.”
I looked up.
“Are you getting ready to claim it?”
Wang hesitated.
“I…”
“What are you afraid of?”
I smiled.
“The Labor Law protects workers, not bosses.”
“If you’re owed money, you should get it.”
Wang gritted his teeth.
“Then should I send a complaint email too?”
“Sure.”
I nodded.
“Just make sure you keep the evidence.”
“Time-clock records, screenshots of messages, work emails—save all of it.”
Wang’s eyes lit up.
“Got it!”
He went back to his desk and started digging through his records.
At eleven, Manager Li came over.
“Fang Zheng, pack your things and report to the warehouse.”
I looked at him.
“Manager Li, I’m not going.”
“That’s the company’s decision.”
His face darkened.
“If you don’t go, it counts as an unauthorized absence.”
“Then I’ll be absent without authorization.”
I kept typing code.
“Besides, I’ve already prepared all the documents for labor arbitration.”
“The company’s transfer is unlawful. I have the law on my side.”
Manager Li was speechless.
“You…”
“Manager Li, you’re just an employee too.”
I looked up.
“Why make things difficult for me?”
“Manager Zhao told you to come pressure me, so you came?”
“When this blows up, you’ll be the one taking the fall, not him.”
Manager Li’s expression changed. He stood there for a moment, then turned and walked away.
At lunchtime, no one in the cafeteria wanted to sit with me.
I carried my tray to a corner.
As soon as I sat down, Zhang Wei came over with his own tray.
“Fang Zheng.”
He sat across from me.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
I looked up.
“Go ahead.”
Zhang Wei rubbed his hands together.
“About that overtime pay you mentioned…”
“I want to calculate mine too.”
I nearly laughed.
“Weren’t you saying I’d made everyone lose their allowances?”
His face reddened.
“I—I was just…”
“Fine.”
I waved a hand.
“If you want to calculate it, I’ll show you how.”
“But let me be clear: once you’ve worked it out, you’ll have to claim it yourself.”
“Don’t expect me to do it for you.”
Zhang Wei nodded quickly.
“Sure, sure, sure. I’ll handle it myself.”
After lunch, I returned to my desk and found another note there.
“Don’t think you’ve won. Just wait.”
I crumpled it up and threw it away.
At two, the company group chat suddenly exploded.
Someone sent an anonymous message:
“I checked my time records. The company owes me over thirty thousand in overtime pay.”
“Same here—twenty thousand.”
“Holy crap, they owe me forty thousand.”
The chat went wild.
Everyone started calculating their own overtime pay.
The more they calculated, the more shocked they got.
“Does this company think we’re free labor?”
“Damn, how did I not realize this before?”
“Fang Zheng’s the man. If he hadn’t made a scene, we’d still be working overtime like idiots.”
I looked at the messages in the group.
The corner of my mouth lifted.
At three, Manager Zhao posted:
“The company will pursue legal action against anyone spreading misinformation or inciting employees.”
The group chat went quiet.
But the private messages started pouring in.
Quite a few coworkers contacted me.
“Fang Zheng, we want to claim our overtime pay too. What should we do?”
“Will the company retaliate?”
“Should we go to labor arbitration together? There’s strength in numbers, right?”
I replied to them one by one.
“Keep your evidence first. You’re entitled to every cent you’re owed.”
“If the company retaliates, file another complaint.”
“The Labor Law is there. No one can change it.”
At four, Chen from Human Resources posted a document in the company group.
“Notice on Standardizing Overtime Management.”
The gist was:
From now on, overtime had to be requested in advance.
It could only be worked after approval.
Overtime wages would be paid according to regulations.
I read it and laughed.
They were admitting defeat.
But it was too late.
They’d pay every cent they owed.
At six, I left work on time.
As I walked out of the office, Old Li called.
“I heard your company blew up?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
“The whole company’s calculating its overtime pay.”
“Hahaha!”
Old Li laughed loudly.
“You really kicked a hornet’s nest this time.”
“Manager Zhao must be so mad he can’t sleep.”
I laughed too.
“Serves him right.”
“By the way, has the lawyer contacted you?”
“We’ve been in touch. We’re meeting tomorrow.”
I said, “I’ve got all the documents ready.”
“Now we just wait to go to court.”
“Keep it up,” Old Li said.
“You have to win this one.”
“Not just for yourself, but for millions of working people.”
I hung up and stood by the roadside.
The night wind blew past, cold against my skin.
But inside, I was burning.
—
【Chapter 6】
Saturday, day six.
I had an appointment with a lawyer.
Attorney Wang was in his thirties, wore glasses, and looked very professional.
“Mr. Fang, I’ve reviewed your documents.”
Attorney Wang flipped through the files.
“The evidence is very complete.”
“The company has committed quite a few violations.”
He counted them off on his fingers.
“First, unpaid overtime. Based on your time-clock records from the past three years, they owe you at least eighty thousand.”
“Second, the deliberate, malicious deduction of your performance pay. That bottle-of-water incident was clearly an act of retaliation.”