Continuing Evolution of Chinese Labour Law
-----Eric Zhuang

Within the context of PRC law, relationships between employer and employee over the last several years have progressed through three phases. The first somewhat one-sided relationship was known as administrative subordination and regulated under administrative law; in the second phase, the relationship was balanced somewhat under the principle of equality and adjudicated under civil law. The latest iteration that has developed is simply a composition of the two former ones.

Now, when employer and employee arrive at their decision to enter into a working relationship, they do so on the basis of equality. However, once the labourer begins and becomes an employee, he or she must then comply with the rules and provisions of the employer, which effectively becomes a form of administrative subordination.

The PRC legal system continues to develop, with some areas of law being more effective than others. With the three phases of labour relationships still more or less being in simultaneous existence, labour law is one area where legal development has only gotten more complex. However, different examples of legal innovation, such as changes under social law, are still being looked at, and in time, may be streamlined into a more practical system.