Contents

This page has a glossary of concepts for Chinese law in the employee management topic.

You can learn more about this subject at CBL’s China employment & labor law FAQ here.

Working Conditions

Employee

In Chinese labor law, an employee is an individual of legal age fit to work whose income and living derives from doing work under the direction of an employer lawfully pursuant to a contract. Chinese terminology for employees maps poorly onto English, as the law strictly classifies workers between full-time employed workers (laodongzhe) and non-full-time workers (laowu). The work of part-time staff and independent contractors such as consultants, is classified for labor law purposes as non-full-time workers (laowu). There are a number of key legal differences between each of these. Only a lawfully registered business can hire an employee, but individuals can hire part time help.

Two entirely different statutes govern each time of relationship: employees are governed by the Employment Contracts Act, which provides a very specific model of employment relations, whereas part-time and independent contractor workers under the laowu classification, are governed under ordinary contract law principles contained in the Civil Code, and therefore have greater freedom of contract.

Only employees are statutorily entitled to receive employer social security contributions and be protected from termination. The Employment Contract must be in writing, and are inflexible as to the mandatory provisions.

Terminology
In Chinglish, an “employee” is called a “laborer,” which can cover the work of white-collar workers including C-level executives and not just manual laborers. That translation is largely used because 19th-century era bilingual dictionary entries have not yet been updated.

Employment Discrimination

In Chinese labor law, employment discrimination refers to making an adverse employment determination based on an illegitimate factor such as race, religion, or age, without a lawful justification. Discrimination remains common despite laws against it in China, and there remain employers who explicitly refuse to hire on the basis of purely personal characteristics. The most common forms of discrimination are imposing age restrictions on jobs that exclude older workers. Many employers will refuse to hire workers from certain geographic regions such as Henan, although these two practices were more recently condemned as absolutely illegal by a recent Supreme Court opinion.

To learn more, take a look at our articles on age discrimination and sex discrimination.

Employment Opportunity Act

The China Employment Opportunity Act seeks to create job opportunities and grow the economy by providing more jobs. The Act provides a framework for government programs to create opportunity for those who might otherwise be unemployed, but the enforceable provisions center on employment discrimination.

When the legislation was first proposed, discrimination was not included in the Employment Opportunity Act. However, legislators reviewing the first draft quickly pointed out that equal opportunity law is essential to employment opportunity, and thus urged including provisions against discrimination. The Employment Opportunity Act was therefore revised to include a chapter on equal employment opportunity, and strictly prohibited discrimination including, but not limited to, ethnicity, race, gender, or religion. The China Supreme Court has interpreted “not limited to” as encompassing any kind of unreasonable or unfair discrimination, in particular place of origin and age.

The equal opportunity provisions guarantee equal treatment for women as for men, and employers cannot refuse to hire women or set more stringent requirements than for men. Other classes of workers are protected, for example disabled persons and rural workers are guaranteed equal employment rights and conditions. Rural hukou holders are entitled to equal employment in cities as urban hukou holders.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Act provides a cause of action to file a lawsuit for violations.

Further Reading

Sex Discrimination Law in China

Age Discrimination Law in China

Employment Relationship

In Chinese labor law, an employment relationship refers to a legal relationship created by an executed full time employment contract between an employee or employer, wherein the employee agrees to follow the employer’s instructions to perform work in exchange for compensation and benefits in a safe work environment.

Employers frequently neglect to sign a written employment contract with their workers; however, Chinese law imposes a constructive written employment contract relationship if an employer does this, and imposes additional liability in the form of double wage payment obligations.

Equal Pay For Equal Work

See full article here.

Probationary Period

In Chinese employment law, the probationary period is a time during which an employer can evaluate the employee’s suitability for a position.

The length of the probationary period allowed depends on the duration of the employment contract.
One or less year contract: up to one month
One or more to three year contract: up to two months
Three or more year contract: up to six months

Workers’ Rights

In Chinese employment law, worker’s rights encompass payment for work done, to take breaks, occupational health and safety, adequate job training, social security, and dispute resolution.

Learn more  at CBL’s China employment & labor law FAQ here.

Workforce

In Chinese labor law, the workforce refers to the members of the population who are fit to work that are of working age. China uses a Marxist conception of the workforce and workers by adopting the labor theory of value in its modern context, characterizing work as either mental labor or physical labor, in contrast to capital, which does not invest labor but instead seeks rent on its properties.

Thus, the Chinese word “laodongzhe” has three meanings derived from its historical evolution: (1) the historical laborer, as in the 19th century (2) Any worker, i.e. someone who provides mental labor or physical labor; (3) an employee who works full-time but not part time. The Chinese word for “workforce,” laodongli, is a portmanteau of “labor” and “force”.

Learn more  at CBL’s China employment & labor law FAQ here.

Time Off

Home Leave

In Chinese employment law, home leave allows for time to return to their home towns for family visitation, and is provided for by national regulations.

Employees are provided one of the following home leave options if distance to spouse or parents would make visiting otherwise impractical:

(1) One annual home leave visit to a spouse up to 30 days; (2) for unmarried persons, 20 days to visit their parents, or as necessary, 45 days every two years. (3) Married persons visiting parents, one 20 day visit every 4 years. These visiting periods include the statutory holiday period in them.

Marriage and Bereavement Leave

See full article here.

Maternity Benefits

In Chinese labor law, female employees are entitled to take a leave of absence during childbirth and through the nursing period, and receive payments equal to their average monthly salary for the past year. Maternity leave in China is meant to allow new mothers to have adequate time to recover from childbirth and to ensure infants receive adequate care.

Maternity benefits in China are part of its law against sex discrimination, which you can learn more about here.

Medical Leave

In Chinese employment law, medical leave is a period of time an employee can claim to recover from illness or injury sustained off the job. Medical leave entitlements can range from 3 to 24 months based on how long the worker has been at the company and the nature of the illness or injury.

New workers are entitled to 3 months; the entitlement increases up to 24 months for senior workers. At the end of the medical leave period, an employee who is not able to return to work can be terminated, but the employer must pay one monthly salary as financial compensation for each year they have been at the company, with a minimum of six months’ salary equivalent as a medical supplement/

Additional compensation is owed for serious illness in the amount of an additional 50%, and for terminal illness an additional 100%.

Learn more about China’s medical leave law here.

Nursing Period

In Chinese employment law governing maternity leave, the nursing period is the time during which a mother feeds the baby with her own milk, which depending on local rules can run up to one year long.

The law provides special protections to women workers to ensure that work does not unduly interfere with maternity needs.

Paid Annual Leave

In Chinese employment law, the paid annual leave is an entitlement for workers who have been at the company for at least a year and allows for payment of wages during an annual holiday.

The annual leave granted ranges from 5 to 15 days depending on how many years the employee has worked. National holidays and weekends are not counted as days taken for annual leave. Employers are required to provide paid annual leave to employees, and if they fail to do so, additional payment is required for workers during the holiday, if the worker is willing to attend, the payment during the holiday is 300% of their ordinary rate.

Learn more  at CBL’s China employment & labor law FAQ here.

Sick Leave

In Chinese employment law, sick leave is a human resources process for when an employee is sick or was injured off the job; it results in granting the statutory medical leave, which has special requirements based on the worker’s seniority. Employees are paid when taking sick leave at a rate no less than 80% of the local minimum wage. It’s important to observe that the statutes do not make reference to “sick leave,” instead only to “medical leave” but that most human resources policies refer to sick leave.

Learn more about managing China employee sick leave here.

Unpaid Personal Leave

See full article here.

Work Hours

In Chinese employment law, work hours are the time spent by a worker to complete tasks assigned by an employer and are the unit by which wages are commonly paid. Work hours are strictly regulated in China, and must conform to one of several statutory plans. Standard Work Hours Plan The standard plan uses a fixed number of work hours per day and is the default option for an employer. Under the traditional Communist regime, the standard work hours were set at 48 hours per week over six days a week. New labor law issued in 1994 shortened it to 44 hours. State Council Order #174 now requires the standard work week be 40 hours, with one day off at minimum.

Learn more about China’s work hour law here.