The issue of whether employee toilet breaks were work-related or not recently came to the fore in China after a social security agency denied death benefits to a worker who died inside a restroom.

Xing Zhi, a 39-year-old programmer from Shenzhen and a father of two, was found dead inside the company’s restroom in April, Jiupai News reported as cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

After entering the office, Xing went to the second-floor restroom instead of the one on the 11th floor where his workstation was located, according to SCMP.

Xing’s company sought the social security bureau’s recognition of his death as work-related, but its local branch dismissed the application in July on the grounds that the lifeless Xing was “neither at his workstation nor working” when discovered, SCMP reports.

The agency reasoned that because he had gone straight to the toilet after checking in, without turning on his computer or starting work, he had “not yet reported for duty,” according to SCMP.

Although the company compensated Xing’s family an undisclosed amount, his wife contested the denial of death benefits citing her husband’s devotion to his job, while outraged netizens accused the bureau of failing to protect workers’ rights.

Meanwhile, a woman in Vienna, Austria demanded from the authorities the equal treatment of women in the use of public restrooms.

Melanie Gradik, 27, has filed a legal complaint against the municipal council for allegedly violating Vienna’s anti-discrimination laws.

The complaint stemmed from Gradik’s recent use of a public toilet at the Austrian capital’s Augarten Park, where she had to pay a 50-cent usage fee while her male companion was not charged.

“I want everyone to be able to use the bathroom on an equal footing. Either we all pay 50 cents or no one pays 50 cents,” she told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Sandra Holzinger, a spokesperson for the municipality, told AFP that only 29 of 168 publicly managed toilets in Vienna charged a 50-cent usage fee to pay for cleaners.