A claim of unfair dismissal brought by a female worker against the French supermarket chain Carrefour has been rejected in court.

The woman, who was let go after she became pregnant, had been asking for compensation and owed overtime pay from the supermarket company. Her case was bounced out of Fengtai district court in mid-December, according to her lawyer, Bai Yu.

Bai said on Wednesday Sheng Yucang plans to appeal the decision.

The 35-year-old former saleswoman from Shandong province took Carrefour to court last year after she was fired in April 2010 when she was in the sixth month of her pregnancy.

Sheng had been hired by chemical company Walch early in 2008 to promote its products at a Carrefour branch in Beijing's Fengtai district.

She claimed that a Carrefour official told a Walch director that she was not suited to work at the store because she was pregnant.

She then took the company to court, seeking compensation and also sought payment for what she claimed was unpaid overtime.

Carrefour said in court that Sheng had been employed by Walch and had her labor relationship with that company. The store said any dispute Sheng might have should be taken up with Walch.

But Bai said workers selling products in the store were really working on behalf of the supermarket and were managed by the supermarket.

Bai said they all wore the supermarket's uniform, suggesting there was a disguised employment relationship between the supermarket and the saleswomen.

The lawsuit was not an isolated case, according to Shi Fumao, executive director of the Beijing Legal Aid Office for Migrant Workers.

"Such disguised employment relationships are widely applied in the country's supermarkets, not only in Carrefour but also at a lot of domestic companies," said Shi.

"Because the supermarkets do not hire them directly, they can just push the responsibility to the suppliers when they don't want them."

Bai said such behavior would not be tolerated in many countries. "Such hidden rules in France, where the supermarket chain's headquarters are, were listed as illegal 10 years ago," said Bai. "I feel disappointed that it still exists here."

But according to Wang Qiang, a lawyer with Beijing Lianggao Law Firm, there is still a debate about how to identify the employment relationship when a third party is involved.

Carrefour's China spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Sheng, who is now the mother of a 1-year-old child, returned from her hometown to Beijing recently and is living in Changping district.

"I plan to look for another job after Spring Festival, when the weather is getting warmer," she said. "But I will no longer seek a job in a supermarket or shopping mall."