China’s top court spoke out against excessive work cultures.

For several years now, a debate has been going on in the background of Chinese corporations regarding the work culture required of employees. Specifically, advocates for employee health have been staunchly against “996” culture, wherein an employee works from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM six days a week. Technology companies such as Alibaba and Pinduoduo have been accused of overworking employees in this manner.

Today, China’s top court issued a lengthy statement condemning the practice of 996, promising to pursue and charge any companies that utilize it. “Recently, extreme overtime work in some industries has received widespread attention,” the Supreme People’s Court wrote in a joint statement with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The statement added that employees deserve “rest and vacation,” and that “adhering to the national working hour system is the legal obligation of employers.”

Requiring employees to work 996 hours “has seriously violated the law on extending the upper limit of working hours and should be deemed invalid,” the court said.

“There is nothing wrong with advocating working hard, but it cannot be a shield for employers to evade [their] legal responsibilities,” the court added.

This statement follows on Beijing’s recent crackdowns on private companies, the purpose of which, according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, is to determine data security risks, education inequality, and social instability. Younger members of the Chinese work force have also begun speaking out against intense work cultures alongside societal pressures such as marriage and home ownership.