Labour Law: State Council delays, as Guangdong makes it better
Guangdong is the first province to have issued a guiding opinion on the labour laws. The opinion attempts to clarify some of the ambiguities in the PRC Employment Contract Law, which took effect in January this year. But the issuance of the rules has caused considerable controversy, with some arguing the Guangdong authorities do not have the right to issue guiding opinions and that some its contents are, as a result, against the national law.
Issue: September 2008
Keywords (click to search):
PRC Employment Contract Law
PRC Law on the Mediation and Arbitration of Employment Disputes
Guangdong
guiding opinion
labour
employment
litigation
dispute resolution
By Joanna Law
2008 has so far been a busy year for the Labour Arbitration Commission. Courts in China’s provinces have been handling a huge increase in labour litigation disputes due to the Employment Contract Law《劳动合同法》1 which took effect early this year. The ambiguities in the legislation have made it difficult for employers to comply with, causing numerous employment issues and is reported to have resulted in some businesses going bankrupt . As a result, the numbers of labour dispute cases has risen significantly, loading pressure on to the arbitration panels and litigation courts.
Guangdong is a case in point. In the first six months of this year, the courts in Guangdong, a province which serves as the hub of China’s manufacturing industry, had the highest number of litigation cases in the entire country. According to Jiang Junlu, partner at King & Wood, the number of litigation disputes...
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