A man in China has won a case after being fired for taking a one-hour nap at his desk following a late-night work shift, earning him 350,000 yuan ($48,000) in compensation. Photo: web

 
A man in China has won a case after being fired for taking a one-hour nap at his desk following a late-night work shift, earning him 350,000 yuan ($48,000) in compensation, which has triggered heated debates across social media platforms.

Zhang, a department manager at a chemical company in Taixing, East China's Jiangsu Province, had dedicated 20 years to the company. After driving late into the night, he decided to rest briefly at his desk due to exhaustion the next morning. Unfortunately for him, the company's surveillance cameras caught the entire episode. Two weeks after the incident, the company's human resource department issued a report, accusing Zhang of "sleeping at work due to exhaustion," and promptly terminated his employment. Then Zhang decided to take legal action against his employer. The court ruled in Zhang's favor, stating that firing him for just one hour of sleep was an overreaction, especially since his nap caused no significant harm to the company. The case has sparked widespread discussion. "If small mistakes can lead to termination, it makes firing employees too easy," one commenter remarked.