Companies in China to inform gov't of layoffs 30 days prior

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, Feb.11 -- As layoffs and labor

disputes become frequent with the global economic slowdown wiping out more

businesses, the central government told employers to inform trade unions of

their plans of mass layoffs at least 30 days in advance on Tuesday.

If a company plans to layoff more than 20 employees,

or over 10 percent of the total staff in one go, it must submit written reports

to the local labor and social security department 30 days prior to the action,

the State Council said in a statement issued on its official website

(www.gov.cn) yesterday.

The State Council emphasized that priority should be

given to ensure the legal rights of the employees.

Moreover, employers should not refuse to pay for

social insurance as long as the working relations still exist, it said.

Local labor officials should keep a watch on such

companies to ensure employers do not flee or postpone wages and insurance

payment, it said.

Mo Rong, deputy chief of the labor science research

institute under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said stable

employment should be the top priority under the current financial circumstances.

"In the long term, mass layoffs are not good for the

development of an enterprise," he said.

The government has launched a series of favorable

policies "to either reduce or postpone five types of social security insurance

fees to give private enterprises some relief", he added.

"The State Council's notice reiterated the regulation

of Labor Law, and it is a good reminder to both enterprises and employers," Li

Kui, a lawyer of the Beijing-based Yingke Law Firm, told China Daily.

"But I hope the regulation would be further

clarified, as different scales of companies and official organizations that

manage layoffs need to be more clear," he said.

Meng Qinghuan, an employer of a Beijing-based fund

management company, said he was doubtful if the new regulation would be

implemented successfully.

"Some small enterprises have no ability to anticipate

the crisis and go bankrupt overnight," he said.

(Source: China Daily)