On December 29, 2020, the sudden death of a 23-yearold woman who collapsed on her way home from work sparked a public outcry yet again on the culture of overtime in tech companies that advocate the “9-9-6” schedule – working from 9am to 9pm six days a week. In recent years, deaths from overwork frequently hit the headlines, and it has become a widely discussed social and legal issue. In March, members of China’s top political advisory body advised authorities to tighten supervision of companies that force employees to work overtime. The absence of supervision and protection by labor unions has led to the ubiquity of overwork, and it is urgent to plug loopholes in the Labor Law and Labor Contract Law to make them more compatible with modern society.
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