•Procedures for handling labor disputes have been better clarified, leaving less time for claimants to act and take up time on court calendars.
"The Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on the Adaptation of Law Regarding Hearing a Labor Dispute" (the "Interpretation") was adopted by the Supreme People's Court on 22, March, 2001. Article 3 of this new Interpretation works in conjunction the Labor Law to address a problem occurrence: a party's refusal to accept a Labor Dispute Arbitration Board ruling. The Interpretation provides that:
"Where people involved in the dispute refuse to accept any conclusions as to written verdict, decision or notice deemed final when their application for arbitration is not more than 60 days overdue and they bring an action, the People's Court should accept the case. Where application is indeed overdue, and also where there exists no instance of force majeure or other legitimate reason, the People's Court should reject the application in accordance with the law."
Under this Interpretation, the two key areas that have changed in the way that the courts handle these types of cases are 1) the reduction of the two year window to sixty days; and 2) the injection of "force majeure or any other legitimate reasons" into the equation a judge uses to determine whether the application for arbitration is overdue.
This Interpretation leaves less question as to how such cases are to be handled and leaves parties to these types of disputes less comfort room in considering whether they will accept or contest an arbitration decision.
----Eric Zhuang