Chinafotopress

Since its inception in January 2008, the Labor Contract Law (LCL) has garnered a great deal of attention from international and local media alike.

Some have hailed it as a major step forward for workers’ rights, while others blame the law for contributing to high production costs and causing factory shutdowns across the country; thousands of factories shut down in the lead up to the law’s enactment and, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 67,000 closed their ...... employees have signed [contracts], policies are [still] legally binding,” says Lauffs.

The impact on companies already suffering from the current economic downturn remains to be seen, and some analysts are suggesting this makes the future of the LCL less clear.

But one thing is certain – now that workers know their new rights, it is unlikely they will allow anyone to take them away. If you are an employer in China, you had better read the small print of the law carefully.