The Dilemma And Solutions Of Judicial Determination Of Work Location Changes

Work location is a crucial factor in the realization of labor contracts,which is closely related to the development of production activities,labor remuneration,and the living habits and social relationships of workers.Through the analysis of 106 judgment samples,it was found that the judicial determination of work location changes presented a dilemma of unclear effectiveness of the broad agreement on work location,inconsistent understanding of the employer’s unilateral change of work location,and lack of uniform consideration of reasonableness factors.The cause of the dilemma lies in the shortcomings of legislation:first,there is no clear specification of the degree of specificity and notification obligation fulfillment of work location agreements;second,the operability of rules for mutually agreed changes is insufficient,which fails to respond to the needs of labor contract attributes and the employer’s autonomy in employment;third,the adjudication rules for reviewing the reasonableness of unilateral changes to work locations are lacking,and cannot provide guidance for judges’ exercise of discretionary power.It is necessary to start from the legislative level,strengthen the employer’s notification obligation in the contracting process,balance the relevant interests of workers and employers regarding the specificity of work location agreements;reconstruct the rules for changing labor contracts,based on the principle of mutual agreement,while using reasonable unilateral changes as exceptions;and by absorbing the experience of existing judicial explorations,drawing on foreign judicial standards,and introducing the proportionality principle,to unify the adjudication rules for the reasonableness review of work location changes,in order to achieve the goal of resolving the dilemma of judicial determination of work location changes.