CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Linda Liang, Piao Liu, Chutian Wang and Xiangbo Lv, King & Wood Mallesons
working hours and retain all remote work software and instant messaging tools online and responsive during working hours. Work-Related Injury For employees who are injured during remote work, there is some uncertainty about how to prove that an injury occurred during work hours, in the workplace and for work-related reasons. According to judicial practice, if it can be proved that the injury occurred during the working hours required by the employer, and that the employee was working at that time (eg, there is an online record of the work, there is a descrip - tion of the work in the work log, and there is even an email sent as proof of the work done at the time), it is likely that work-related injury will be recognised and the employer will need to bear the relevant statutory obligations. IP Protection In the remote work arrangement, the vast majority of information is transmitted through the internet, and it is more difficult to monitor employees՚ behaviours and ensure that they do not disclose confidential information from the employer. Therefore, it is sug - gested that the employer strengthen the confidenti - ality requirements during remote work periods and co-operate with IT software suppliers to establish a comprehensive mechanism for the protection of the employer’s IP during remote work. 5.2 Sabbaticals Although some universities in China have been try - ing to implement this kind of leave for teachers, the “sabbatical” is not a legal concept stipulated by PRC employment laws, but rather a kind of optional leave granted by universities to teachers. Consequently, there is a lack of regulations on the terms of employ - ment (salary standard, etc) during the sabbatical peri - od at the national level, and there are no related cases demonstrating the attitude of the arbitration commis - sion/court. 5.3 Other New Manifestations With the development of the platform economy and the need for more flexible employment, new forms of employment have developed and infiltrated a grow - ing number of industries in the past year; typical new
manifestations include delivery persons, online plat - form taxi drivers and network anchors. The identifica - tion of the relationship between the platform enter - prises and the individuals engaged, and the protection of such individuals’ rights and interests, are of most concern. The national and local governments have been issu - ing regulations and policies governing new forms of employment in recent years. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, together with seven other departments, issued a guiding opinion in 2021, which for the first time introduced a new concept called a “less-than-complete employment relation - ship” (as opposed to an ordinary employment relation - ship or a civil law relationship). It also set out compre - hensive provisions to ensure platform workers’ rights and interests, including reasonable pay, accident insurance participation and vocational training. In 2024, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security further issued three guidelines regulating platform employment, including: • a guideline on working hours, rest and remunera - tion for platform workers; • a guideline on the publication of labour rules for platform enterprises; and • a guideline on services to safeguard the rights and interests of platform workers. Local rules and regulations have also been issued, providing more detailed guidance, including allowing work-related injury insurance to be paid separately for individuals under new forms of employment. It will be important to pay attention to any new rules intro - duced in the future concerning these new forms of employment.
6. Collective Relations 6.1 Unions
According to the Labour Law, trade unions shall repre - sent and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of employees, and carry out their activities indepen - dently in accordance with the law. The Trade Union Law of the PRC (the “Trade Union Law”) (last revised
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