What does the Manner Coffee wage dispute tell the coffee industry?
A leak claimed Manner Coffee asked staff to choose between hourly basic wages or 80% of Shanghai's minimum wage of 2,072 yuan during the pandemic. The topic trended on Weibo; Manner said two former employees posted false remarks and that it reported the matter to police, and the statement also detailed its pay standards.
The post showed a store message sent at 10 p.m. on May 9 urging staff to pick a plan, screenshot it and sign by hand, with consent forms for April absentee hours and living expenses attached. Lawyers' views on barista pay during the pandemic and the wider industry situation are part of what does coffee contain in this dispute over liability and compensation.
Recently, a leak about Manner Coffee discounting wages during the pandemic sparked heated discussion on social platforms. The leak claimed that Manner required employees to choose between two compensation plans: basic wages calculated and paid by the hour, or 80% of Shanghai's minimum wage of 2,072 yuan. The incident quickly topped Weibo's trending searches, and Manner subsequently issued a statement identifying two former employees as having posted false remarks and saying it had reported the matter to the police to pursue criminal and civil liability. The statement also explained in detail the wage payment standards during the pandemic, saying its treatment was far higher than Shanghai's minimum wage and implicitly suggesting that employees of competitor Mstand Coffee were involved. This article sorts through the course of the incident, the statements from both sides, and lawyers' views, and explores the legality of barista compensation during the pandemic and the current state of the industry.
1. Basic wages are calculated and paid by the hour; 2. In April, with no owed work hours, take 80% of Shanghai's minimum wage (after deducting the five social insurances and one housing fund) of 2,072 yuan. Employees were also asked to choose a plan themselves, take a screenshot, and handwrite their signature to confirm.
The poster said wages were paid on the 10th, while this WeChat screenshot was a message posted by the person in charge of a Manner store at 10 p.m. on May 9, urging everyone to choose quickly. Attached to the plan were also a consent form for April absenteeism hours and a consent form confirming April living expenses.
After the article was published, it triggered many complaints from former and current Manner employees, and other netizens also continuously forwarded the matter, causing the incident to trend on Weibo. Manner then issued a statement at noon yesterday in response, saying: current employee Chen used the Xiaohongshu account "Natsume" to publish several false remarks about Manner, distorting the facts and guiding public opinion without any basis, and together with other accounts maliciously liked and forwarded them, with vile conduct that seriously damaged Manner's reputation and violated the labor contract and confidentiality agreement signed with the company at the time of onboarding. It also said the company had already reported the matter to the police and requested criminal liability be pursued, and that the company had confirmed he received a lawyer's letter and requested civil liability be pursued.
In Manner's statement, it said it discovered that former employee Zhu, now an employee of Shanghai Aiqia Catering Service Co., Ltd. (namely Mstand Coffee), had used the Xiaohongshu account "julia" (now canceled) to publish several articles containing false remarks and other content that seriously damaged Manner's reputation.
Manner said Zhu's actions had already violated the labor contract and confidentiality agreement signed with Manner during employment, and that while knowing there was a non-compete agreement, he still knowingly broke the law by joining another coffee brand and receiving double wages. It also said it was still unclear whether Zhu had obtained direct or indirect authorization and instructions from Mstand, but that it had already contacted Hangzhou police to request criminal liability be pursued and would file legal proceedings.
After the statement said legal action would be pursued against some former and current employees, Manner responded to the question of wage payment. Manner said that with the vast majority of stores closed during the pandemic, it paid full basic wages (3,600-11,300 yuan) and normally contributed the five social insurances and one housing fund, already far higher than Shanghai's minimum wage of 2,590 yuan and also far higher than the living standard of 2,072 yuan stipulated by Shanghai, and that this was the first time in the industry.
It then said the work hours Manner partners needed to work were reduced by 70% from 167 hours to 50 hours, which was equivalent to directly raising the unit hourly rate by more than twofold, and said that during the April pandemic period Manner also subsidized stores 350 yuan per person per operating day, the highest in the industry. For this reason, Manner said it had truly been actively providing benefits to partners and treating partners like family, and did not understand what the three users who posted the above false remarks were aiming for.
At the same time, it again mentioned Zhu (namely a current Mstand employee), saying that when his company (Mstand) had not yet paid a 13th-month salary in 2021, he repeatedly emphasized that the company (Mstand) had better benefits. Manner believed Zhu's standards were inconsistent and his actions bizarre. By citing this matter, Manner reminded brands in the same industry to look upward, genuinely benchmark Manner's wage treatment of partners during the pandemic, and raise store partners' regular monthly wages after passing assessments to 8,000-17,900 yuan (plus normal contribution of the five social insurances and one housing fund), putting it into practice and protecting store partners' interests.
So is Manner's way of paying wages reasonable? A lawyer said: According to the Interim Provisions on Wage Payment issued by the Ministry of Labor, if a unit suspends work or production for reasons not attributable to the worker within one wage payment cycle, the employer shall pay the worker wages according to the standards stipulated in the labor contract. If it exceeds one wage payment cycle, then if the worker has provided normal labor, the labor remuneration paid to the worker shall not be lower than the local minimum wage standard; if the worker has not provided normal labor, it shall be handled according to relevant state regulations.
If Manner's statement is true, then the company's wage payment complies with the relevant regulations. Whether Manner or other coffee brands, during the pandemic baristas' wages were paid in full according to basic wages, but according to the work hours required for different positions, they would be made up after stores resumed operations.
In addition to choosing to receive normal wages now but make up work hours later, one could also choose not to make up work hours later, but receive only 2,072 yuan in wages. In the case of some employees having no work for an entire month, 2,072 yuan was paid in accordance with relevant laws to guarantee employees' living expenses during the pandemic.
As for the issue of pursuing employees' criminal and civil liability mentioned in Manner's statement, Manner presumably believed that the other party's actions had caused a certain impact on the brand on Xiaohongshu. A lawyer said: If an employee or former employee deliberately fabricates and spreads false facts, damaging the company's business reputation, it may be suspected of the crime of damaging business reputation or defamation. Or it may be precisely because of the above consequences that the party deleted the online content. Current law is relatively complete. If one believes one's lawful rights and interests have been infringed, one can very well protect one's rights through relevant arbitration, rather than turning from a former labor-management relationship into both sides publicly revealing ID numbers and battling online, which would leave both sides somewhat embarrassed.
Image source: Xiaohongshu Weibo
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
