Employment

Established in 1994, TransAsia's employment law practice has the longest history of that of any local or international firm in the People's Republic of China (PRC), and is generally recognized as one of the most authoritative teams in the area. Our firm was also recently selected as the "2010 Employment Law Firm of the Year" for China by Chambers and Partners for its inaugural Asia Awards: China.

Client Services

With team members based in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, our employment law practice has extensive experience advising clients on all aspects of employment matters in the PRC, including:

• Overall legal compliance
• All types of employment documents (e.g., employment contracts, employee handbooks, non-competition and non-disclosure agreements, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection agreements, overseas training agreements and termination agreements)
• Recruitment and pre-employment screening, including for senior management positions
• Social security, housing fund and welfare benefits
• Stock options
• Termination and retrenchment
• Expatriate employment
• Anti-discrimination and sexual harassment
• Establishment of trade unions and employee representative congresses
• Labor dispute resolution (e.g., mediation and negotiation with employees and trade unions, arbitration and litigation)

Upon request we also organize and conduct focused workshops and training sessions for our clients on key legal issues and developments. Recent topics have focused on the new Employment Contract Law (ECL), its implementing regulations and retrenchment issues.

TransAsia Team

• Dr. Isabelle I H Wan [1]: Dr. Wan is the leader of the TransAsia Employment Law practice. She has been advising clients on their PRC direct investments in general for the past 20 years, and on Chinese employment law issues in particular for the past 16 years. Dr. Wan begun her practice in this area in 1995, the year in which the PRC Labor Law was promulgated.

  Since then, she has worked closely with the Ministry of Labor & Social Security (MOLSS), now the Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security (MOHRSS), to promote employment law in practice and as an area of study. In recognition of her contributions to the field and her efforts to foster a better understanding of the law among foreign investors, She was nominated by the MOLSS in 1997 to be a Director of the China Labor Law Association. In late 2006, the MOLSS and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) invited her to advise on the drafting of the landmark PRC ECL.

• Xing Xinmin [2]: The deputy head of the TransAsia Employment Law practice, Mr. Xing served as general counsel of the MOLSS for 10 years. During that time, he participated in the drafting of key pieces of legislation, such as the Labor Law and the Regulations for the Administration of Labor in Foreign-Invested Enterprises.
• Guan Binfeng [3]: Of Counsel to the Employment Law practice, Binfeng was previously the director of the legislation department and a deputy inspector of the ACFTU. His responsibilities included the drafting of various laws, regulations and other rules, including the Trade Union Law  and the ECL.
• Helen Li [4]: Helen's practice areas include employment law and intellectual property law. She has extensive experience in advising on a wide range of employment-related matters including employment contracts, wages, working hours, rewards and disciplinary policies, and labor dispute resolution (arbitration and litigation).

  Helen is also a licensed PRC trademark agent, regularly assisting clients in applying for trademark registration and advising on all facets of IPR protection in China.

• Joon Ho Tan [5]: Joon Ho advises on a wide range of employment related issues including expatriate employment and secondment, stock option schemes and trade unions.  In addition, Joon Ho specializes in foreign investment in China, including market entry structures, corporate and commercial issues, e-commerce, data protection and privacy, product liability and dispute resolution.  He brings with him a wealth of experience from his previous position where he was a key member of the litigation and dispute resolution department of one of Malaysia's pre-eminent law firms.

• Patrick Gu [6]: As a member of TransAsia's Employment team, Patrick is involved extensively in the preparation of employment-related advice, employment/secondment contracts, HR policies, termination agreements and other legal documents.  He also regularly advises on employment contract performance, termination and renewal, as well as severance payments, and labor dispute arbitration and litigation.

  Patrick also works on PRC foreign investment matters for various multinationals, including M&As, restructuring, asset sale/purchase, company establishment, and other general corporate matters.

• Johnny Choi [7]: Johnny is a senior member of the firm’s Employment team and has extensive experience advising on employment contracts, hiring arrangements, employee handbooks, remuneration plans, termination, overtime and social security issues. Johnny has also assisted various clients to handle crises involving difficult employees, as well as to defend lawsuits involving wrongful termination, unpaid wages and other claims.

  In addition to his employment law practice, Johnny advises on aspects of intellectual property, media, and corporate and commercial law. Prior to joining TransAsia, he worked for Freehills, a leading Australian law firm and TransAsia’s alliance partner.

• Nina Wang [8]: Nina specializes in PRC employment and social security law, which involves advising clients on a wide range of issues relating to legal compliance, employment contracts, employee handbooks, non-competition and confidentiality agreements, social security and welfare benefits, mergers & acquisitions, retrenchment, expatriate employment and labor dispute resolution (including mediation, arbitration and litigation).

  Nina is a trustee of the Beijing Municipality Labor Law Society and has been an arbitrator of the Beijing Municipality Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission's Special Arbitration Court since 2001, and a part-time arbitrator at the Chaoyang District Labor Dispute Arbitration
  Commission. 

Regulators and HR Service Providers

We maintain close working relationships with the MOHRSS and its local labor bureaus, the ACFTU, and the nation's two largest HR service providers (i.e., Foreign Enterprise Service Co., Ltd or FESCO and China International Intellectech Corporation or CIIC).

Labor Law Forums

For the past 16 years, TransAsia has actively promoted a better understanding of PRC employment law and facilitated an open dialogue between the Chinese government and HR professionals. With the official endorsement of the MOLSS, TransAsia was the first law firm to organize a full-scale conference on employment law issues: the "China Labor & Social Security Law Forum", held in Beijing and Hong Kong in 1997 with the support of FESCO. Since then, we have hosted similar events in 1999, 2003 and 2005 in Shanghai and in 2007 in Beijing.

In July 2007, TransAsia hosted the "China Employment Contract Law Forum", which featured as panelists and speakers senior officials from the National People's Congress, State Council, ACFTU, MOHRSS and key local labor bureaus.

Publications and Newsletters

In addition to client work, we have a tradition of writing and publishing highly respected books on employment law in China:

• 1995: Our lawyers conceived of and wrote China Labor and Social Security Law - Essential Facts Explained, a bilingual loose-leaf guide that was endorsed by the MOHRSS for the duration of our involvement.⁽¹⁾
• 2001: In conjunction with the MOLSS, we produced the bilingual publication China Employee Wages - Statistics and Analysis [9], the first-ever public release of detailed statistics on wages and labor costs in the PRC.  
• 2009: Xing Xinmin and TransAsia together produced a Chinese language guide entitled The Employment Contract Law: Implementation Strategy and Risk Prevention.
• 2010: At the request of the Legislative Affairs Office of the National People's Congress TransAsia produced the official English version of its Interpretation of the Employment Contract Law, a bilingual guide to the 2008 PRC Employment Contract Law.
• 2010: TransAsia produced the official English version of the bilingual publication Using Employment Contracts Skillfully & Reducing Labor Disputes at the request of the author of the Chinese version, Mr. Chen Peiyong, a renowned expert on labor law and a senior official of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council.

In addition, we produce a regular employment law newsflash [10] to help clients stay abreast of the latest PRC legislative and policy developments at both the national and local levels.

Representative Clients

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