Equal pay for equal work: revision of remuneration system

TheDecision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to Amend the PRC Employment Contract Law will be implemented from 1 July 2013. One bright spot of the amended law is further clarification of the right of dispatched employees to the same pay as the regular employees of an employer for the same work.

The principle of equal pay for equal work was established with the PRC Labour Law of 1995. In general this principle has been understood to mean that employees with the same level of skill and work proficiency, when engaging in the same kind of work, have, regardless of any difference in their sex, age, ethnicity, etc., the right to receive the same labour remuneration, provided they furnish the same quantities of work.

The principle of equal pay for equal work in the amended law adds further detail to such a principle in the Labour Law in the field of the labour dispatching placement of employees. More specifically, it has the following characteristics: 1) persons to whom it applies: between dispatched employees and an employer’s regular employees; 2) equal work: the “work” here specifically refers to regular employees of the employer in the same job; if the employer does not have regular employees in the same job, remuneration is to be determined with reference to employees in identical or similar jobs in the place where the employer is located; 3) equal pay: the “pay” here cannot be mechanically understood to mean that the amount of labour remuneration is completely identical, but rather refers to an identical method of allocating labour remuneration.

Sammi Pang is the senior partner at Guangsheng & Partners Law Offices in Shanghai. She can be contacted on +86 21 5835 6061 (ext. 816) or by email at sammipang@shgslaw.com