Since the mid-1990s, when China enacted its first national Labor Law, its laws and regulations governing the workplace have proliferated to keep pace with the country's rapid growth and expanded industrial base. Yet relatively few academics have focused on the field, and labor and employment law historically have been of rather limited concern even to many foreign investors.
Times have changed. In 2007 and 2008, China introduced three major national-level labor and employment laws after a drafting process that attracted extensive international commentary and participation. This new generation of legislation raises the compliance bar for employers and has led to a dramatic upsurge in labor arbitration and litigation since its passage. Another consequence of the reforms has been “aggressive efforts” by the “government-organized All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) . . . to organize and obtain contract protections for workers” (p. xii). Accordingly, understanding and responding to these changes in China's labor and employment law is increasingly critical for investors and employers engaged in the Chinese market.
In this new context, Ronald Brown's work is an excellent resource for employers seeking guidance on their rights and obligations. Written in a clear, accessible style, but with thorough references to precise legal provisions, it is well suited for Western managers in China and their counsel who need a ready reference to understand the essential elements of the new laws and where they mark a shift from prior rules. Those previously unfamiliar with Chinese law in general or with labor and employment law in particular will also appreciate Brown's introductory chapters, which explore the impact of China's economic transformation on the workforce and place labor and employment laws in their broader legal and administrative institutional context. The book's appendix contains convenient full-text translations of China's 1994 Labor Law, the three labor laws introduced in 2007 and 2008, and implementing regulations for the Labor Contract Law, which is the centerpiece of the recent reforms.
Although not directed to an academic readership, the book benefits from Brown's rich experience as a longtime scholar of Chinese labor laws and one with strong ties to leading Chinese labor law experts. It may facilitate more extensive Western scholarship on Chinese and comparative labor and employment law by bringing together in a single concise and well-organized volume the basic national-level legislation, examples from case experience, and related local regulations from Beijing, Shanghai, and elsewhere, many of which are otherwise readily available only in Chinese.
The book is comprehensive in scope, with chapters covering matters ranging from hiring and nondiscrimination, working conditions, and wages and benefits, to restrictive covenants, terminations, and labor dispute resolution processes and trends. Brown is careful to note areas where there are gaps and ambiguities, while inviting readers to observe the sophistication and complexity that now characterizes much of Chinese labor and employment law. He also devotes extra space to aspects of the law that are most likely to cause confusion for foreign investors and employers.
An example comes early in the work, when Brown examines how the employment relationship is defined and established under Chinese law, covering matters such as the formation and content of individual and collective labor contracts. Brown's more extensive discussion there of provisions governing “collective negotiation” and barriers to its implementation is particularly helpful given the monopoly of China's state union, the ACFTU, and the differences between “collective negotiation” in China and collective bargaining as understood in the West. This is of even greater relevance in light of recent efforts by the ACFTU to unionize Global Fortune 500 companies in China.
Throughout many of the chapters, Brown adds depth and texture to his description of the law with reference to relevant cases, although some predate the most recent legislation. The final section of the book is largely focused on several cases of relevance to foreign employers, such as cases involving Microsoft, Google, and Walmart. While not presented with full detail or analysis, they do illustrate Brown's important point that labor rights and remedies in China are typically adjudicated through multiple, overlapping processes and suggest ways in which the law might affect multinational employers in practice.
Perhaps because Brown's focus is on explaining the current state of the law, the book ends somewhat abruptly with a chapter on remedies and a supplemental chapter containing form labor contracts, without any commentary on how Chinese labor and employment law reflects its broader economic and social policies or what reforms in this area say about the future of legal reform in China more broadly. Nonetheless, this book succeeds in its goal of illuminating what Brown aptly describes as the multifaceted “mosaic” of laws and regulations governing China's diverse workplaces (p. 12).
