Events of The Year (1) - Jongo News - Daily News of China

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"Events of The Year" (1)

China's New Labour Contract Law

Major Changes:

No.1“Open-end contract”
Under Chinese law, an employee can be discharged either at the expiration of a term contract or for cause. To avoid the need to terminate for cause, employers in China have typically engaged employees under a series of short-term contracts. This practice is no longer possible under the LCL.

The new law allows employers to assign only two consecutive fixed-term contracts. After that the employer must offer the employee an open-ended contract, which the employer can only terminate under certain circumstances such as incompetence, serious violations of internal rules, gross negligence and fraud. Employers that violate this statute will have to pay the employee double salary for each month during which he or she had the right to an open-ended contract. Otherwise the employee can sue.

An employer can terminate an employee without cause but must pay the employee double severance. Severance equals one month’s pay per year of service.

No.2 "Maximum Probation periods"
The LCL imposes severe restrictions on the use of probationary periods in the employment relationship. Probationary periods are permitted, but the length is limited based on the term of the employment contract, with an absolute maximum set at six months. Furthermore, an employee can only be subject to a single probationary period by a single employer. Wages during the probationary period must also be no less than 80% of the contract wage.

China offers free education for futher teachers

China's Ministry of Education has started a practice to exempt tuition fees of normal major students in six universities under direct administration of the ministry in the country since autumn semester started in September.

The following six universities Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, Northeast Normal University, Huazhong Normal University, Shaanxi Normal University and Southwest University are included in the scheme. The practice is aimed to encourage more youth to devote themselves to education.

To be eligible for free tuition, the student must agree to work at a rural school for a minimum of three years after graduation. This pre-requisite is not popular among students from richer families

New Holiday Plans Unveiled

The Chinese government in December officially announced the scrapping of one of the country's three "golden week" holidays and introduced three new one-day public holidays.

Three traditional festivals -- Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon-boat Festival and Mid Autumn Festival -- are add to the list of public holidays.

The plan, which comes into effect on Jan. 1, also increases the total number of national holidays from 10 to 11 days.

The Spring Festival remains a three-day public holiday, but it will start one day earlier from the eve of the Lunar New Year, China's most important traditional festival.

The May Day holiday is shortened from three days to one day, while the three-day National Day holiday and one-day New Year holiday remain unchanged.

The government will continue to move the weekend days adjacent to a national holiday to form a longer holiday period so that people will have three days or seven days off in a row.