CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Linda Liang, Ai Luo, Faluan Pan and Chutian Wang, King & Wood Mallesons
King & Wood Mallesons 18th Floor, East Tower World Financial Center 1 Dongsanhuan Zhonglu Chaoyang District Beijing 100020 People’s Republic of China Tel: +86 010 5878 5161 Fax: +86 010 5878 5566 Email: linda.liang@cn.kwm.com Web: www.kwm.com
China’s Changing Labour Landscape: Retirement Reform, New Trends in Non-Compete Disputes and Employment Protections Under New Employment Forms China’s labour law landscape has undergone various reforms in the past year, represented by the official implementation of the retirement reform. To promote and stabilise the economy, China has been imple - menting new measures, resulting in numerous devel - opments in the labour market. Of the dynamics in the employment law area, the following are particularly noteworthy: • the official implementation of the postponed retire - ment policy; • trends in judicial practice for non-compete labour disputes; and • protection of workers’ rights and interests under the new employment forms. Implementation of the new retirement policy The Measures of the State Council on the Gradual Raising of the Statutory Retirement Age (“Measures”) came into effect on 1 January 2025, marking the offi - cial implementation of the gradual postponed retire - ment reform in China, aiming to ease the elderly care burden and improve efficiency. The key points of the Measures include: • gradually raising the statutory retirement ages; • introducing the flexible retirement mechanism; and • increasing the minimum contribution period for receiving pension benefits.
Following the Measures, the newly issued Interim Measures for Implementing Flexible Retirement Sys - tem (“FRS Interim Measures”) also came into effect on 1 January 2025, further stipulating detailed rules for flexible retirement. This section aims to provide an overview of the rules for the new retirement legal regime in China as set out by the Measures and the FRS Interim Measures, together with local rules and practice. New statutory retirement age Starting from 1 January 2025, the statutory retirement age will gradually be raised to the new statutory retire - ment age over 15 years, as follows: • for male employees whose original statutory retire - ment age is 60, the new statutory retirement age will be gradually raised by one month every four months until it reaches 63; • for female employees whose original statutory retirement age is 55 (female employees in manage - rial/technical positions), the new statutory retire - ment age will be gradually raised by one month every four months until it reaches 58; and • for female employees whose original statutory retirement age is 50 (female employees in non- managerial/technical positions), the new statu - tory retirement age will be gradually raised by one month every two months until it reaches 55. For example, a male employee born in January 1970 who is originally scheduled to reach the statutory retirement age of 60 in January 2030 will reach the
143 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook