China: Employees Are Encouraged to Stay Put to Celebrate the Chinese New Year Holidays

Eleven departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport released the Opinions on Strengthening Pandemic Prevention and Control and Improving the Work for Spring Festival Travel Rush in 2021 (the “Opinions”).  The Opinions encourage employees and the public to stay put to celebrate the Chinese New Year holidays and encourage employers to comprehensively arrange the holidays based on consideration of both the work demands and employees’ wills. The Opinions also point out that trade unions should proactively communicate with employers about the time for work rest and work resumption and duly organize the migrant workers to avoid travel rush when they go back to their hometowns and return to work.  Also, the Opinions specify that trade unions at all levels should send care to frontline workers who stick to their posts during Chinese New Year holidays and make efforts to improve their work and life conditions.  Eligible companies should guarantee the rest of workers on post by providing compensatory days off or using other methods.  Different provinces or cities in China have also formed a series of subsidy polices to support employees to stay put to celebrate the Chinese New Year holidays.

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