How to deal with employment disputes in China
.
Key notes
- Step 1: Ensure you have a valid Employment Permit and a Residence Certificate
- Step 2: Review the defaulting liability clause of the signed Employment Agreement
- Step 3:Try to collect the evidence in favor of yourself
- Step 4: Negotiate with the employer
- Step 5: Proceedings for disputes resolutions: arbitration and litigation
The horrible boss does not just exist in the Hollywood comedy movie, they exist in real life too! Previously many of the foreigners working in china were assigned by their overseas corporate headquarters, but now many expats apply for their own jobs in China through LinkedIn or global headhunters. Thus, it is more frequent to meet these horrible employers who are random in hiring and firing people especially when the Chinese economy seems slows down.
There is controversy about whether the employment contract law of China shall automatically apply to the employment contract of a foreign employee. Shanghai’s 1st and 2nd Intermediate People’s court held different opinions previously and once reached different conclusions on similar cases. In 2010, there was a case where Shanghai’s 2nd intermediate people’s court granted award in favor of the economic compensation provided by employment contract law when there was no such provision in the agreement. But, recently there is a tendency that both intermediate people’s courts have started to have the same attitude towards the issue that no extra compensation will be granted if the agreement doesn’t provide such.So, unless you have great bargaining power and have managed to clearly state the contract termination conditions and amount of compensation on the agreement, we suggest that you specify that the agreement comes under the application of Employment Contract Law when signing the employment agreement, which will avoid ambiguity when disputes occur, and most of the employers won’t deem it an unreasonable request based on our experience.
Tip：Don’t sign anything unless you have reached agreement on the compensation for everything and that the payment schedule of the compensation to be paid is clear too. Most of the time the employer would ask you to sign a waiver note and exempt them for any further liability. Many employees signed and regretted afterwards.
Need any professional advice please contact us