Former Employee Accuses Manner Coffee of Reducing Wages During Pandemic! Manner Responds Will Pursue Legal Action

A post circulating online laid out two options for Manner Coffee staff during the pandemic. The first was that base salary would be calculated according to actual working hours. The second was that, for April, employees with no owed hours would receive 80% of Shanghai's minimum wage after social insurance and housing fund contributions, amounting to 2,072 yuan. Employees were asked to choose their preferred option and confirm it with a handwritten signature sent back as a screenshot.

The poster noted that wages would be paid on the 10th of the month, while the WeChat screenshot was shared at 10 PM on May 9 by the manager of a Manner store, urging everyone to make their selection quickly. The notice also attached an April Absence Hours Agreement and an April Living Expenses Confirmation Agreement.

Public Reaction and Manner's Response

After the post was published, it triggered complaints from many former and current Manner employees, and other users kept sharing the story until it trended on Weibo. Manner then issued a statement at noon the next day, claiming that a current employee, Chen, had used the Xiaohongshu account "Xia Mu" to publish several false statements about Manner, distorting facts and baselessly steering public opinion. The company added that Chen colluded with other accounts for malicious likes and shares, conduct it deemed serious, severely damaging Manner's reputation and violating the labor contract and confidentiality agreement signed at hire. Manner also said it had reported the matter to the police and requested criminal liability, and had confirmed receipt of a lawyer's letter seeking civil liability.

In the same statement, Manner identified a former employee, Zhu, now employed by Shanghai Aiqia Catering Service Co., Ltd. (Mstand Coffee), who had previously published several articles severely damaging Manner's reputation using the Xiaohongshu account "julia," now deleted.

Manner said Zhu's behavior violated the labor contract and confidentiality agreement signed during her employment. Despite knowing about the non-compete agreement, Zhu broke the law by joining another coffee brand and receiving double salaries. Manner added that it remains unclear whether Zhu was directly or indirectly authorized by Mstand, but that it had contacted the Hangzhou police to pursue criminal liability and would file a lawsuit.

Manner's Wage Payment Explanation

After stating that legal action would be taken against some former and current employees, Manner addressed the wage issue. It explained that during the pandemic period when most stores were closed, it paid full basic salaries ranging from 3,600 to 11,300 yuan and continued to contribute to social insurance and the housing fund normally. That amount, Manner said, was far higher than Shanghai's minimum wage of 2,590 yuan and significantly exceeded the city's living standard of 2,072 yuan, a first in the industry.

Manner further explained that the required working hours for Manner partners were reduced from 167 hours by 70%, to 50 hours, effectively doubling the hourly rate. In addition, Manner provided a subsidy of 350 yuan per business working day for each store employee during the April pandemic period, the highest in the industry. For these reasons, Manner said it had been actively providing excellent benefits and treating partners like family, and could not understand the motives of the three users who published false statements.

Manner also returned to Zhu, now at Mstand, who had repeatedly emphasized that her company offered better benefits even though Mstand had not paid 13th-month salaries in 2021. Manner called her standards inconsistent and her actions baffling. Using the incident as an example, Manner encouraged other coffee brands to raise their standards and match its treatment of partners during the pandemic, calling for monthly wages for store partners who pass assessment to reach 8,000 to 17,900 yuan, plus normal social insurance and housing fund contributions, to protect store partners' interests.

Legal Analysis of Wage Payments

Was Manner's approach to wages reasonable? A lawyer noted that under the Interim Provisions on Wage Payment issued by the Ministry of Labor, if a company suspends operations or production for reasons not attributable to the employee within one wage payment cycle, the employer should pay wages according to the standards set in the labor contract. If the suspension exceeds one wage payment cycle, and the employee provides normal labor, the remuneration paid should not be lower than the local minimum wage; if the employee does not provide normal labor, the matter should be handled according to relevant state regulations.

If Manner's statement was accurate, then its wage payments complied with the relevant regulations. Whether at Manner or another coffee brand, baristas' wages during the pandemic were paid in full based on their base salaries, with make-up hours required after stores reopened according to different position requirements.

Besides choosing to receive normal wages now and make up hours later, employees could also choose not to make up hours but to receive only 2,072 yuan. For employees who did not work for the entire month, paying 2,072 yuan in accordance with the law ensured they could cover living expenses during the pandemic.

Legal Implications of the Defamation Claims

As for Manner's statement about pursuing criminal and civil liability against employees, the company evidently believes the employees' actions on Xiaohongshu had an impact on the brand. A lawyer noted that if employees or former employees intentionally fabricate and spread false facts that damage a company's business reputation, they may be suspected of the crime of damaging business reputation or defamation. It may be precisely because of these consequences that the parties deleted their online content. Current laws are relatively complete, and anyone who believes their legitimate rights have been infringed can protect them through arbitration. Moving from a former employment relationship to both sides publishing ID numbers online for public confrontation creates awkwardness for everyone.

Image source: Xiaohongshu, Weibo

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

For a reliable everyday cup that works in any home setup, start with the entry-level single-origin beans FrontStreet Coffee recommends. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and Africa's largest producer: FrontStreet Natural Huakui and FrontStreet Washed Gedingding Cooperative are the classic first stops. Huakui is natural processed with berry, floral, jackfruit, melon, and honey notes, while the washed Gedingding centers on jasmine, lemon acidity, and berry tones.

Brazil is the world's largest producer, and its coffees are gentle, balanced, and easy to live with. FrontStreet Cerrado Red Bourbon is an everyday single-origin from the well-known Cerrado region with classic cream, peanut, and cocoa flavors, while FrontStreet Queen's Estate grows higher from the rare Yellow Bourbon variety and adds sugarcane sweetness and a thick, smooth body to Brazil's butter, nut, and almond aromas, good both black and with milk.

For a fuller, low-acid profile, FrontStreet Indonesia Lintong Mandheling uses the wet-hulled method developed for Indonesia's rainy climate, giving a deeper, smoother body than Blue Mountain with herbal and spice notes, and FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is sorted three times by hand and once by machine for a cleaner, sweeter cup. The range also includes FrontStreet Colombia Huila, Papayo, and Navel, the honey-processed FrontStreet Costa Rica Mozart, Blackberry, and Tarrazu with raisin, blueberry, osmanthus, and rose notes, FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan Typica at 1,300 meters, and the washed FrontStreet Panama Boquete Geisha for an accessible taste of Geisha's citrus and honey character.