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Proposals submitted to amend labor laws

Deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) have submitted 18 proposals to amend labor laws according to an NPC subcommittee report released on November 4, 2017. It is expected that some of the proposals will be included in the legislative plan of the NPC for its next session beginning in March 2018.

The proposals aim to amend the Labor Law, Labor Contract Law, and the Social Insurance Law as well as to create specific laws on employment discrimination and collective bargaining. Each legislative proposal requires the support of at least 30 NPC deputies as co-sponsors.

While details of the 18 proposals have not yet been released, it is expected that the proposals may include:

• Eliminating the requirement on an employer to pay statutory severance in certain circumstances, such as for an employee’s lack of performance or for an employee’s failure to return to work after exhausting a medical leave period.
• Setting stricter requirements on the timely payment of wages to migrant workers.
• Introducing collective bargaining legislation to provide a firm legal basis for the development of collective bargaining and to govern the enforcement of obligations to engage in collective bargaining.

Employers face greater liability for commercial bribery

Amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law that take effect on January 1, 2018 impose increased liability on employers for acts of commercial bribery committed by their employees. Under the amended law, commercial bribery committed by employees is presumed conduct of the employer, except where the employer can show that employees’ actions are not related to seeking business opportunities or gaining competitive advantage on behalf of the employer. Previously, employers could escape liability if the administrative authorities were unable to prove that a clear link existed between the employee’s actions and the employer....

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