A MAN who was injured at his work place won a lawsuit against his employer after he was proved to be illiterate, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Sunday.

The resident, surnamed Li, was hired by a Shenzhen company in March last year and was injured while working in the company’s workshop two months later.

In August 2016, Li was evaluated as having a grade-10 disability by the city’s labor competence appraisal committee and he applied for arbitration at the labor and personnel dispute arbitration commission in Guangming New Area.

The commission ruled that Li’s company should pay his salary from when he was on leave due to the injury and offer him an employment subsidy, but the company refused to accept the ruling and appealed to the Bao’an District People’s Court.

After Li applied for legal aid with the Fenghuang Subdistrict Office in Guangming New Area, a lawyer was designated as Li’s attorney. However, during the hearing, the company submitted a reconciliation agreement signed by Li to prove that Li was willing to give up some of his legal interests.

The agreement put the case’s hearing into a deadlock, as Li couldn’t remember why he would have signed such an agreement.

The lawyer discovered that Li was actually illiterate and could only read a few words. After the lawyer submitted evidence proving that Li was illiterate, which invalidated the reconciliation agreement signed by Li and the company, Li finally won the lawsuit. (Zhang Yang)