China: The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued three new regulations on new forms of employment

Authors: Carol Zhu and Lynsey Liu

In November 2023, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the Guidelines for Rest and Remuneration Protection of Workers in New Forms of Employment, the Guidelines for Publicizing Labour Rules for Workers in New Forms of Employment, and the Guidelines for Protecting the Rights and Interests of Workers in New Forms of Employment. These three documents have recently been announced by the Human Resources and Social Security Departments in provinces such as Hunan.

Workers in new forms of employment mainly refer to those who accept online work tasks such as delivery, transportation, domestic services, and other jobs posted on internet platforms. They provide platform-based online services as required by the platforms and earn remuneration through their labour. The enterprises involved include platform companies and the cooperating enterprises that utilise platform labour.

According to the Guidelines for Rest and Remuneration Protection of Workers in New Forms of Employment, enterprises should engage in equal negotiations with labour unions or representatives of workers in new forms of employment to determine reasonable limits for the maximum consecutive order-taking time and maximum daily working hours for workers in new forms of employment. When workers reach the maximum limits for consecutive order-taking time and daily working hours, the system should send rest reminders and stop sending new orders for a certain period of time. The minimum hourly wage standards prescribed by the government at the actual working place shall apply to workers in new forms of employment who are not eligible for the conditions for the establishment of employment relations but are subject to the management by the enterprise. If workers in new forms of employment work during public holidays, the enterprise should provide reasonable compensation that exceeds the normal working time remuneration.

The Guidelines for Publicizing Labor Rules for Workers in New Forms of Employment clearly state that platform enterprises, when formulating or revising labour rules directly related to the rights of workers in new forms of employment, should seek the opinions of workers in a prominent manner, such as through pop-up windows in the application, and fully consider the opinions and suggestions of labour unions or worker representatives. The platform enterprise should inform the workers about the adopted suggestions. The labour rules should be publicly displayed to the workers for at least seven days in advance before their implementation.

Key Action Points

If employers hire workers through platforms, they can refer to the aforementioned guidelines to ensure that workers receive necessary rest time, prevent excessive labour, and ensure that workers in new forms of employment receive reasonable remuneration for their labour.