CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Linda Liang, Piao Liu, Chutian Wang and Xiangbo Lv, King & Wood Mallesons
8.2 Anti-Discrimination Discrimination is prohibited by PRC employment law. The Labour Law generally provides that people should not be treated unfairly due to race, gender, religion, etc, and that women should have equal rights of employment to men. In addition, the PRC Employment Promotion Law provides that employees are entitled to equal employment, and that individu - als seeking employment shall not be discriminated against because of ethnicity, race, gender, religious belief, disability or whether the individuals are from rural places. The PRC Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, which was amended and took effect on 1 January 2023, further ensures equal employment rights for and prohibits discrimination against female employees. There are also specific regulations prohibiting discrimination against individu - als who are hepatitis B carriers. “Equal employment rights disputes” has been listed as a separate cause of action since 2019. Generally, indi - viduals can file “equal employment rights disputes” lawsuits before the court, requiring the company to bear the corresponding legal responsibilities. The burden of proof is usually on the individual to prove that the enterprise conducted discriminative actions. Remedies available to employees vary depending on the specific cause of action, with monetary compen - sation for economic loss and emotional loss in certain circumstances being the main remedy; other possible remedies include requiring the enterprise to apologise to the individual publicly. 8.3 Digitalisation In China, labour arbitration procedures are currently generally conducted onsite. However, online litigation is now widely used for court proceedings, especially since the COVID-19 pandem - ic. According to the Rules of Online Litigation of Peo - ple’s Courts, the court may rely on the electronic litiga - tion platforms to complete all or part of the litigation procedures of case docketing, mediation, exchange of evidence, questioning, court trial and service online. The court shall decide whether to conduct an online court trial via video based on the opinions of the par - ties, the circumstances of the case, social impact,
presidents/committee members of the company trade union shall be automatically extended until the expiration of their term of office. However, this protection does not apply in cases of personal seri - ous misconduct during their term of office or upon reaching the statutory retirement age. In addition, the law sets special procedural requirements for dismissing the president or vice president of the company trade union during their term of office, including: (a) obtaining consent from both the company trade union committee and the next higher- level trade union organisation; and (b) lawfully removing the president or vice presi - dent from office in accordance with statu - tory procedures (eg, through a trade union members’ congress or congress of members’ representatives). • The employment contract of an Employee Bargaining Representative that expires during the term in which the Employee Bargaining Representative was con - ducting collective bargaining shall be automatically extended until the completion of his/her duties of collective bargaining, unless the Employee Bargain - ing Representative has seriously violated the labour discipline or the internal policies of the employer, committed serious dereliction of duty, or been pros - ecuted for criminal liability according to the law. Employees who consider that they have been wrong - fully dismissed may bring a wrongful dismissal claim to the judicial authorities. The grounds generally include: • substantive violations of the law, whereby the basis (factual basis or the statutory grounds invoked) for unilateral termination cannot be substantiated; or • procedural violations of the law, including not notifying the trade union and not fulfilling relevant formalities requirements. If their claim is supported, the remedy will be either reinstatement of employment with back pay or a dou - ble severance payment. 8. Disputes 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal
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