Workers whose contracts have been broken by their employers will
be paid no more than 12 months' salary as compensation, under a new
draft law proposed yesterday.
But the compensation cap will not apply if employees have been
fired for serious workplace breaches or disciplinary action, or if
the employer can prove they have serious economic problems.
Legislators started to read the third draft of the controversial
labor contract law, which for the first time details a standard
compensation for contract termination.
The draft, discussed at the 27th meeting of the Standing
Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, states that if
employers want to end contracts, they should pay employees the
equivalent of one month's salary for every year of service, capped
at 12 months.
The calculations will be based on the employee's average monthly
salary over a 12-month period, prior to the end of the
contract.
However, high earners will be paid compensation no more than
three times the local monthly average salary, according to the
draft.
Li Yuan, director of the administrative law division of NPC
Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, said the
average monthly salary in Beijing last year was about 3,000 yuan
(US$388.6).
Hu Guangbao, deputy director of the NPC Law Committee, said such
stipulations were made in response to public suggestions.
The existing Labor Law spells out the need for economic
compensation, but does not provide uniform guidelines. The previous
draft of the labor contract law did not detail the issue either,
leaving it to be set by State Council regulations.
Li said many overseas enterprises and organizations, including
the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai),
have also suggested setting the standard by law so that employers
were able to calculate costs.
The AmCham Shanghai said in a letter to China Daily it
applauds the Chinese government for its initiative.
"The stipulation on compensation is a major change in the latest
draft, and it directly affects the interests of employers and
employees," Li said.
But Li said that because the labor contract issue is very
complicated, the draft law needs further discussion.
Official figures show that the NPC received about 192,000 public
responses in the month after the draft was published last March for
consultation. Only the Constitution, in 1954, received more.
(China Daily April 25, 2007)