Emerging employment rules will create inconsistency

New implementing regulations for the Employment Contract Law (中华人民共和国劳动合同法) (ECL) have failed to meet expectations. The regulations do not go far enough in clarifying ambiguities in the underlying law, and lawyers say that more rules and guidelines are badly needed.

Individual provinces are set to answer this call, as they try to give companies more flexibility to solve their employment issues, stimulate investment and improve the local economy. But, although their intentions may be sincere, it is likely that provincial rules will create inconsistencies.

“Each province and many municipalities and even industrial parks will interpret the rules in their own way,” says Lesli Ligorner, a partner of Paul Hastings' Shanghai office.