Patients wait in line for the registration windows to open at the Beijing Stomatological Hospital on Wednesday. The windows open at 7 am to sell tickets for treatment, and it is a common practice for people to use stools or other objects to reserve a place in the line.[Photos by Zou Hong / China Daily]

A 32-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE LECTURER in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province, who died of ovarian cancer recently, had been fired while she was away for medical treatment. Gmw.com commented on Saturday:

Accusing the lecturer of "chronic absenteeism", her college sacked her even though her mother had explained in advance the cause of her absence to the college management. The abrupt decision cost the lecturer her job, salary, medical insurance and eventually her life, giving rise to a heated public debate over the protection of employees' legal rights and interests.

Many who sympathize with her find it hard to believe that even a college lecturer could fall victim to a heartless management, and say her dismissal should be seen as a serious violation of the legal rights of lecturers.

Although the lecturer filed a lawsuit against the college last year and won the case－a local court nullified the dismissal decision twice and urged the college to reinstate her－the college management did not abide by the ruling. After her death, the management only extended condolences to her family and promised to deal with the "relevant issues".

Such a brazen disregard for the rule of law, though not rare nowadays, must be taken seriously. Or else, other employees will live in fear of being fired simply for being sick. It is also necessary to find out why the college in Lanzhou was audacious enough to challenge the local court's ruling which it should have abided by more than a year ago.

More importantly, extra efforts have to be made to hold rule-breaking employers accountable, especially those with a bad record of personnel management. True, companies do not have the obligation to hire someone who contributes little or nothing at all to their organizations. But they are not allowed to use that as an excuse to fire anyone they want, especially if the person is seriously ill, because by doing so they would be overstepping the boundaries of labor and social security laws.