Labour Act. Dated 5 July 1994.
(China Daily, 6 July 1994, p. 2.) Table of contents CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER II. PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT
CHAPTER III. LABOUR CONTRACTS AND COLLECTIVE CONTRACTS CHAPTER IV. WORKING HOURS, REST AND VACATIONS CHAPTER V. WAGES
CHAPTER VI. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
CHAPTER VII. SPECIAL PROTECTION FOR FEMALE STAFF AND JUVENILE WORKERS CHAPTER VIII. VOCATIONAL TRAINING
CHAPTER IX. SOCIAL INSURANCE AND WELFARE CHAPTER X. LABOUR DISPUTES
CHAPTER XI. SUPERVISION AND INSPECTION CHAPTER XII. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY
CHAPTER XIII. SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 1. This Law is formulated in accordance with the Constitution in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of labourers, readjust labour relationship, establish and safeguard a labour system suited to the socialist market economy, and promote economic development and social progress.
Section 2. This Law applies to all enterprises and individual economic organizations (hereafter referred to as employing units) within the boundary of the People's Republic of China, and labourers who form a labour relationship therewith.
State organs, institutional organizations and societies as well as labourers who form a labour contract relationship therewith shall follow this Law.
Section 3. Labourers shall have the right to be employed on an equal basis, choose occupations, obtain remuneration for their labour, take rest, have holidays and leaves, obtain protection of occupational safety and health, receive training in vocational skills, enjoy social insurance and welfare, and submit applications for settlement of labour disputes, and other rights relating to labour as stipulated by law.
Labourers shall fulfil their labour tasks, improve their vocational skills, follow rules on occupational safety and health, and observe labour discipline and professional ethics.
Section 4. The employing units shall establish and perfect rules and regulations in accordance with the law so as to ensure that labourers enjoy the right to work and fulfill labour obligations.
Section 5. The State shall take various measures to promote employment, develop vocational education, lay down labour standards, regulate social incomes, perfect social insurance system, coordinate labour relationship, and gradually raise the living standard of labourers.
Section 6. The State shall advocate the participation of labourers in social voluntary labour and the development of their labour competitions and activities of forwarding rational proposals, encourage and protect the scientific research and technical renovation engaged by labourers, as well as their inventions and creations; and commend and award labour models and advanced workers.
Section 7. Labourers shall have the right to participate in and organize trade unions in accordance with the law.
Trade Unions shall represent and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of labourers, and independently conduct their activities in accordance with the law.
Section 8. Labourers shall, through the assembly of staff and workers or their congress, or other forms in accordance with the provisions of laws, rules and regulations, take part in democratic management or consult with the employing units on an equal footing about protection of the legitimate rights and interests of labourers.
Section 9. The labour administrative department of the State Council shall be in charge of the management of labour of the whole country.
The labour administrative departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be in charge of the management of labour in the administrative areas under their respective jurisdiction.
CHAPTER II. PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT
Section 10. The State shall create conditions for employment and increase opportunities for employment by means of the promotion of economic and social development.
The State shall encourage enterprises, institutional organizations, and societies to initiate industries or expand businesses for the increase of employment within the scope of the stipulation of laws, and administrative rules and regulations.
The State shall support labourers to get jobs by organizing themselves on a voluntary basis or by engaging in individual businesses.
Section 11. Local people's governments in various levels shall take measures to develop various kinds of job-introduction agencies and provide employment services.
Section 12. Labourers shall not be discriminated against in employment, regardless of their ethnic community, race, sex, or religious belief.
Section 13. Females shall enjoy equal rights as males in employment. It shall not be allowed, in the recruitment of staff and workers, to use sex as a protext for excluding females from
employment or to raise recruitment standards for the females, except for the types of work or posts that are not suitable for females as stipulated by the State.
Section 14. Where there are special stipulations in laws, rules and regulations on the employment of the disabled, the personnel of national minorities, and demobilized army men, such special stipulations shall apply.
Section 15. No employing units shall be allowed to recruit juveniles under the age of 16.
Units of literature and art, physical culture and sport, and special arts and crafts that need to recruit juveniles under the age of 16 must go through the formalities of examination and approval according to the relevant provisions of the State and guarantee their right to compulsory education.
CHAPTER III. EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
Section 16. A labour contract is the agreement reached between a labourer and an employing unit for the establishment of the labour relationship and the definition of the rights, interests and obligations of each party.
A labour contract shall be concluded where a labour relationship is to be established.
Section 17. Conclusion and modification of a labour contract shall follow the principles of equality, voluntariness and unanimity through consultation, and shall not run counter to the stipulations of laws, administrative rules and regulations.
A labour contract once concluded in accordance with the law shall possess legal binding force. The parties involved must fulfil the obligations stipulated in the labour contract.
Section 18. The following labour contracts shall be invalid:
(1) labour contracts concluded in violation of laws, administrative rules and regulations; and (2) labour contracts concluded by resorting to such measures as cheating and intimidation.
An invalid labour contract shall have no legal binding force from the very beginning of its conclusion. Where a part of a labour contract is confirmed as invalid and where the validity of the remaining part is not affected, the remaining part hall remain valid.
The invalidity of a labour contract shall be confirmed by a labour dispute arbitration committee or a people's court.
Section 19. A labour contract shall be concluded in written form and contain the following clauses:
(1) term of labour contract; (2) contracts of work;
中华人民共和国劳动法(英文版)
