Understanding Labor and Employment Law in China
Cambridge University Press, 12/10/2009
EAN 9780521191487, ISBN10: 0521191483
Hardcover, 350 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm
Language: English
Continued economic prosperity in China and its international competitive advantage have been due in large part to the labor of workers in China, who for many years toiled in underregulated workplaces. More recently, labor law reforms have been praised for their progressive measures and, at the same time, blamed for placing too many economic burdens on companies, especially those operating on the margins, which in some cases have caused business failures. This, combined with the global downturn and the millions of displaced and unemployed Chinese migrant laborers, has created ongoing debate about the labor laws. Meanwhile, the Chinese Union has organized many of the Global Fortune 500 companies, and a form of collective bargaining is occurring. Workers are pursuing their legal labor rights in increasing numbers. This book provides a clear overview of the labor and employment law environment in China and its legal requirements, as well as practices under these laws used to deal with labor issues.
Part I. Understanding China's Regulation of the Workplace
1. Introduction
2. Labor and employment laws and administration
Part II. Employment Relationships
3. Employment relationships
4. Individual labor contracts formation and content
tightening the relationship
5. Collective labor contracts and collective negotiations
Part III. Hiring and Employment Practices
6. Hiring and employment practices and the law
7. Employment anti-discrimination laws
Part IV. Working Conditions, Wages, and Hours
8. Safety and health protection
9. Injury compensation
10. Wages and hours
Part V. Employee Benefits
Leave, Medical, Maternity, Work-Related, Unemployment, and Pension Insurance
11. Mandated and non-mandated employee benefits
Part VI. Discipline and Termination under Employment Agreements
12. Employer rules
conduct, discipline, and termination
13. Restrictive covenants
employee loyalty and employers' protectable interests
14. Resolving labor disputes by mediation, arbitration, and litigation legal regulation
Part VII. Rights, Remedies, and Multiple Forums
15. Working labor and employment laws
illustrations
16. Illustrative contracts.
"As a Chinese labor lawyer, it is a great pleasure for me to comment on Professor Brown's book. He is one of the few American legal scholars who has deep understanding of the Chinese law and practice. This book contains a current and comprehensive examination of all major areas of the Chinese labor and employment law, as well as recent national legislation. Authoritative, timely, and complete, this book makes a significant contribution to Chinese legal research and provides useful guidelines for practitioners." --Mr. Jiang Junlu, Partner, King & Wood Law Firm, Beijing; Chair of the Labor Committee of the All China Lawyer's Association and Vice President of the Beijing Lawyer's Association "Professor Brown's book is a timely introduction to the newest developments in Chinese labor and employment law. The book examines and analyzes all the most important topics. The author is respected for his research on Chinese labor and employment law and is well informed on labor law developments in China. The book is clearly organized so that readers can easily access and understand Chinese labor and employment law issues. For those who want to learn more about up-to-date labor and employment law in China, this book is the best guide." --Professor Zhou Changzheng, Associate Professor at Nanjing University Law School "Professor Ron Brown succeeds at attaining an often elusive goal for writers on legal topics-fashioning a lucid, detailed and coherent "treatise" on an emerging body of law-in this case, Chinese labor and employment law. Professor Brown has authored a comprehensive review of China's first attempts to create a workable law of industrial relations suitable for its new private sector. His book covers this historic project comprehensively: nailing down the rapidly expanding technical terrain of what can be a very dry, mundane topic-employment regulation-and also conveying the vast social and political drama unfolding behind the "curtain" of this minute set of rules and procedures. China is resurrecting industrial relations and labor law, and Brown has written the definitive general treatise that will prove most useful to wide audiences of scholars and practitioners in this first phase of articulated private sector labor law in China." --Earl Brown, Asia Regional Labor Law Counsel, American Center for International Labor Solidarity, Solidarity Center, AFLCIO "Ronald Brown's new book on China's labor and employment laws is the indispensable source for practitioners and researchers seeking a smart, intelligible guide to the welter of laws, regulations and practices that confront multinational businesses opening and maintaining operations in this most important of emerging markets for production and trade." --Samuel Estreicher, Dwight D. Opperman Professor of Law and Director, Center for Labor and Employment Law, New York University "US Companies operating in China face a steady and overwhelming stream of national, provincial and sector laws and regulations addressing labor and employment issues. Ron Brown's work permits such companies to understand why the stream exists and helps navigate around the legal and practical shoals. Written in a direct and readable style, Professor Brown allows the Western corporate reader to understand the diversity and complexity of the Chinese political, economic and cultural systems to better appreciate the difficulties Chinese regulators face in enacting and enforcing labor and employment laws that work well for all of China's workers. He lucidly captures the convergence of China's staggering industrial growth, its stated goals of advancing worker rights and protection, and need to ensure workplace and social harmony and Chinese lawmakers' attempts to balance these forces through laws and regulations. This book can help western companies operating in China choose "compliance" instead of the alternative choices of "bankruptcy" or "evasion" when faced with ever increasing labor and employment laws and regulations." --Mark Nordstrom, Sr. Labor and Employment Law Counsel, General Electric Corporation