Q & A

• Is it legal for a worker to request a confidentiality allowance from the employer in their labor contract?
• Can factory punish worker by firing him without pay if workers violate the factory rules? How many absent days can be defined as automatic leave the job?
• What is the including of minimum wage? Can the social insurance/ food/ dormitory deduction allow?
• Does a factory have to compensate employee test time if the employee signs an hourly employment contract?
• Factory normally denied requests to resign from workers when the requests are during peak production season. As a result, if a worker elects to leave the factory, these workers forgo their last 1 or 2 months payment. Can a factory deny the request from a worker to resign? If a worker does leave the factory without appropriate notice, is the factory permitted to keep salaries to off-set any loss associates with this resignation?
• Is it acceptable for a factory to not pay overtime to piece rate workers who are unable to meet the target (so long as the target can be obtained by the majority of workers in the factory)? If so, what constitutes a majority? Also, how does a factory demonstrate that its targets are fair and reasonable?
• Is it acceptable to switch a rest day and therefore to not pay the overtime premium? If so, does the alternative rest day have to be provided during the same week, month of year? Does this arrangement have to be approved by anyone?
• It is mentioned in law that wage payment should be made on monthly basis, so what is the maximum allowable time period for wage payment?
• May I know whether China factory can ask workers worked 7 days (30 days a month) if those rest days overtime were 200% wage compensation to the workers?
• We know that overtime premium must be 200% of the minimum wage during evening hours or weekends and 300% of that during public holidays. We have this factory where workers are paid based on a piece rate, which is higher than minimum wage. We know ethically at least, their overtime rate should be 200% of their actual piece rate. Is it also legally required to pay the overtime rate based on the actual wage rate or only required to pay that based on minimum wage rate?
• How to deal with qualified employees who are not willing to sign non-fixed term labor contracts?
• How to deal with employee who does not sign on the notice of termination of labor contracts?
• Employee is stipulated in the labor contract to keep commercial confidentiality, should these employees be paid for the confidentiality cost?
• Whether it is necessary to re-sign labor contracts with employees if enterprise is combined?
• Does the labor contract invalid if it is lack of a statutory clause?
• Employee has worked in the same enterprise for ten years and did not request to sign the non-fixed term labor contracts when renew it, can this be take as employee give up the right?
• Employment units and employee keep the real labor relations; can the financial compensation be paid if employee proposed to terminate the labor contract?
• Are the client list the employer’s business secrets?
• If employee dismissed for two month and back to the same company, can the trial period be agreed again?
• If employee works in the subsidiaries from the Group Company, does his working life calculate the same employer?
• Shall the processing procedures cancel if employee is ill after got the lifting notification?
• Does the performance appraisal system need to be agreed by the two parties?
• Shall employer deduct a month wage for economic compensation if employee did not notify the termination of labor contract 30 days in advance to the employer?
• Does the monthly wage in financial compensation standard of the labor contract’s termination mean the basic wage or include the overtime wage and bonuses?
• In what way does the employer use to prove that employee is not meet the hiring requirements?
• How to determine the existence of labor relations if there has not written labor contract between the employee and employer?
• Can interns need to sign labor contract with the enterprises?
• An employer worked 6 years in the same unit and after left for 8 months, the employer returned to this unit and worked for another 5 years. Can this be taken as the employee has already worked for the employer for 10 consecutive years and sign the open-term labor contract?
• When and in what way does the financial compensation be paid?
• Can the financial compensation on lifting or terminating labor contracts be agreed in advance?
• How to make the financial compensation standards if the labor contract is terminated and dissolved?
• How to pay financial compensation if employer terminates or dissolves the labor contract illegally?
• Can enterprise need to pay the economic compensation if the labor contract is terminated?
• Can financial compensation be paid if employee unilateral dissolves the labor contract?
• Can financial compensation be paid if employer unilateral dissolves the labor contract?
• Can employer terminate the labor contract when employee is in pregnancy when the labor contract expires?
• Does the employer should notify the termination of labor contract to employee 30 day in advance?
• Does the employer need to pay financial compensation if both parties propose to dissolve the labor contracts base on negotiations?
• Can employer terminate the labor contract if employee is suspected of suffering from occupational diseases?
• Can a labor contract be dissolved if employee was taken into custody by the public security authorities?
• Can employer terminate the labor contract due to employee with occupational disease or work-related injury?
• What procedures should employers fulfill if unilaterally dissolving labor contracts?
• How should one understand about cases when the “employee causes severe damage to the employer because of serious negligence of duties or pursuit of personal benefit”?
• How should one interpret “employee seriously violates the rules of the employer”?
• Should employee take responsibility if he does not notify employer for the termination 30 days in advance?
• In what circumstances a labor contract is considered terminated?
• What are the circumstances employers have to postpone labor contracts termination?
• How should one understand the phrase “the employee is proven not to meet the conditions of recruitment during the probation period?”
• Can a non-fixed term labor contract be dissolved?
• Can a labor contract be terminated with an employee who has been employed for 15 consecutive years with the same employer but there is more than 5 years remaining from the statutory age for retirement?
• Can an employer dissolve a labor contract with an employee who commits domestic violence?
• Can an employee notify the employer to dissolve the labor contract by phone or e-mail?
• Can an employer dissolve a labor contract upon discovering an employee had a second child while working for a previous employer?
• Can employer dissolve labor contract under employee’s life style issues?
• Can labor contract be terminated if employee signs contracts with two units?
• Is it true if employees involved in work-related injury, employers shall not terminate labor contracts?
• If the employee does not cause severe damage to the employer because of serious negligence of duties, can employer terminate the labor contract?
• Can labor contract alter if the enterprise relocation as a whole?
• Is it true if employees involved in work-related injury, employers shall not terminate labor contracts?
• What kind of employees that under non-fault behaviors, employers shall not terminate labor contracts?
• Under what non-fault behaviors of employees, employers can notice the lifting of the labor contract in advance?
• Can a labor contract be terminated when an employee has been found to be not complying with employment conditions after the probation period?
• Upon what inadequacies of the employee, may the employer may dissolve the labor contract at any time?
• Are there any restrictions if an employer dissolves a labor contract during the probation period?
• Whether an employee can stop a contract freely?
• Can changes to a labor contract be confirmed by spoken agreement?
• What are the regulations for revising the contract according to the Labor Contract Law?
• What does the Labor Contract Law require specifically regarding fulfillment of contracts?
• What should be done with a labor contract confirmed as invalid?
• Can government labor administration departments determine that a labor contract is invalid or not?
• What are invalid contract clauses that employers use to avoid statutory responsibilities?
• Why does the employer have to pay wages after the labor contract is confirmed invalid?
• How can one determine whether a labor contract is invalid or not?
• Does an invalid clause in a labor contract invalidate the entire contract?
• What are invalid labor contracts?
• What should be included in a labor contract regarding non-competition?
• How should it be determined when a labor contract has come into effect?
• What are the essential conditions that bring a labor contract into effect?
• Can an employing entity stipulate non-competition restrictions in the labor contracts of all its staff?
• What does non-competition mean?
• Which employees may request non-fixed term labor contracts?
• Can all labor contracts be renewed?
• What should be understood regarding the renewal of labor contracts?
• Can an employer and employee stipulate conditions for termination in a labor contract?
• A factory does not provide necessary tools for workers, such as scissors and needles, but asks the workers to bring their own tools and take the tools with them when leaving. The tools belong to the workers, who are also responsible for their damage or loss. Is this practice illegal?
• Is it required to stipulate a probation period in a labor contract?
• Can a labor contract replaced by an employment notice?
• How should an employer and employee deal with disputes arising over unclear stipulations on labor remuneration in the labor contract?
• For wages paid during a probation period, will it be acceptable as long as it is no less than the local minimum wage is paid?
• If a labor contract has only the signature of the legal representative of the enterprise on it and without an official seal, will the contract be regarded as having binding force?
• If an employee actually starts work 6 months after establishment of the labor contract, how should his length of service be calculated?
• Can an employer stipulate clauses in a labor contract to restrict the employee from dissolving the labor contract?
• Are optional clauses in a labor contract restricted to the items prescribed in the law?
• Can an employee enjoy medical treatment period during probation?
• When renewing a labor contract, can a probation period be stipulated if the employee's post is changed?
• Can an enterprise sign labor contract with an employee on a certain project?
• Must the establishment of an open-term labor contract be agreed by the employer?
• If an employee is transferred to a superior unit, will the transfer period be calculated in the length of service in the original unit?
• How should an employer handle the situation when discovering that a labor contract has been signed with an employee who has forged his or her working history?
• If an employee uses a forged diploma or degree, which subsequently becomes the basis for signing a labor contract with the employer, can the contract be regarded as valid?
• Are employing units allowed to keep employees' labor contracts?
• Does a non-fixed-term labor contract mean a lifelong labor contract?
• If an illegal probation period has already been carried out, does the employing unit bear liabilities?
• What is the relationship between a probationary period and the term length of a labor contract?
• When signing a labor contract, what requirements are applicable to the agreement of penalties for employee breaches of contract?
• When signing a labor contract, how do you reach an agreement on wage compensation?
• What basic information about an employee should be understood by the employer before signing a labor contract?
• If a labor contract is invalid, does the employee still need to be paid? Isn't it unwarranted to compensate the employee in this case?
• Does the Labor Contract Law apply to employees from overseas, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau?
• If an invalid labor contract is regarded as invalid since its time of establishment, why does termination of such labor contracts still exist?
• Must training fees be accompanied by a receipt from a third party? Does training provided by company headquarters overseas qualify?
• How should one understand the meaning of 'labor contract with term based on of completion of a specific assignment'?
• Does the Labor Contract Law apply to students working over summer vacation?
• May an employing unit stipulate a service period and penalty for breach of contract if the unit assists the employee in transferring registered permanent residence when recruiting?
• Employing units shall conclude non-fixed-term labor contracts upon employees' request if fixed term labor contracts have been concluded twice previously. From what time should fixed-term labor contracts be counted towards this requirement?
• Should an existing labor contract be re-signed after the implementation of the Labor Contract Law?
• The Labor Contract Law requires a written labor contract to be established within 30 days of the start of employment. The local labor authority was not able to provide authentication service for a labor contract upon factory request, as they only provide this service at certain times, twice a year. If the local labor authority cannot authenticate the labor contract, within 30 days, can the factory be exempt from this law?