China’s new regulation on protection of female employees’ rights during recruitment was released

Nine departments in China including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Notice on Further Standardizing Recruitment to Promote the Employment of Females (the “Notice”).  The Notice prohibits gender discrimination during recruitment and also stipulates that, when making recruitment plans, publishing recruitment information and recruiting employees, employers should not: (1) confine the job to specific gender (except the incompatible labor work for female employees or other such circumstances) or set preference for specific gender; (2) restrict females’ job applications or refuse to hire female candidates due to gender; (3) inquire about female candidates’ marital and parentage status; (4) set pregnancy test as part of employment health assessments; (5) have restrictions on pregnancy and set it as a condition for employment; and (6) set higher recruitment standards for female candidates. As is also stipulated in the Notice, if employers publish recruitment information with gender bias content, they shall be ordered to correct it in accordance with the regulation; and if such employers further fail to correct the violation, a fine of no less than RMB 10,000 and no more than RMB 50,000 may be imposed.