A court in China has ruled in favour of an employee who was fired from his company, as part of an AI related job-layoff, as the judge observed that automation cannot supersede human rights.
The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Hangzhou province in East China, has ruled in favour of an employee named Zhou, who was fired from his post of quality assurance supervisor in an AI tech company.
According to court proceedings, Zhou joined the company in November 2022 at a monthly salary of 25,000 yuan ($3640) and his responsibilities involved ensuring accurate output by AI models.
Zhou’s role was recently replaced by AI in the company and he was reassigned to a lower level position with 15,000 yuan as salary. After Zhou protested, he was fired with a compensation offer of 311,695 yuan. It was here that Zhou approached the arbitration panel seeking higher compensation.
“The arbitration panel ruled the dismissal unlawful and supported Zhou’s claim for additional compensation. Unhappy with the arbitration outcome, the company filed a lawsuit with a district court in Hangzhou in August 2025 and later appealed to the intermediate people’s court. Today, the court has upheld tribunal’s decision and deemed the AI related firing unlawful,’ read a statement from the State Council Information Office, China.
The court also said that the company did not treat the employee fairly.
A similar case in Beijing reached the same conclusion earlier, where another worker lost his job after AI replaced his work. That dismissal was also ruled illegal.
Also Read: “I Helped AI Learn My Work”: Ex Oracle Employees on the Layoff They Never Saw Coming
