Chinese cat has its day in court: teacher fired for kitty’s on-camera cameo in online class wins unfair dismissal case
- The art teacher had been told just before the cat incident that the company was happy with her performance
- The court ruled the company overreached, inventing new rules that did not previously exist to justify firing the teacher as they were angry about the cat
A teacher in China who was fired for having her cat present in the background during online classes has received 41,236 yuan (US$6,100) in compensation from her former employer.
The art teacher, surnamed Luo, from Guangzhou in Guangdong province, southern China, received the compensation after she took the local education company she had worked for since 2019 to court, Bailu Video reported.
Luo began working remotely from home teaching classes online using live- streaming at the request of her employer. After the first three months, the company told Luo it was happy with her performance.
The cat “incident” happened on June 5 during one of Luo’s regular online classes when her cat appeared on the screen five times. The local court didn’t disclose whether Luo noticed the cat or not, but said her students saw it.
“What is moving around?” one student wrote in the comments during the online class.
Her employer was shocked when they heard of the cat’s cameo and believed that it would harm the reputation of the company. The following month they terminated Luo’s employment contract citing the cat’s on-camera appearance as the reason.
Luo rejected the explanation and took her case to a local labour arbitration tribunal seeking compensation for unfair dismissal.
