Regulation of Jiangsu Province on Labour Contract : Article 42

LAW DETAILS

LINK TO FULL TEXT OF LAW:

http://www.jsrd.gov.cn/zyfb/sjfg/200812/t20081231_1771.shtml

SUMMARY OR KEY PROVISION OF THE LAW

Employers accepting interns of full time school student shall follow laws, regulations and relevant provisions of the state, providing necessary conditions and healthy and safe working environments for students. It is prohibited to engage students working high above the ground or inside pits not related to major; work involving radioactive, highly toxic, flammable or explosive substances; work of the 4th degree of physical intensity as stipulated by the State.

The school is not allowed to organize, arrange and manage internships by intermediary organizations and labour dispatch agencies. The enterprise cannot arrange internship longer than 12 months, the internship should be not more than 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. If otherwise provided by the State, such provision will prevail.

The employer should educate interns on occupational safety and health, prevent accidents in the process of work. Employing unit should provide accident insurance to interns according to internship agreement.

Employing unit shall pay compensation to interns directly according to agreement, not less than local minimum wage standard. The compensation of interns shall not be deducted or delayed by employing unit and school.

SUMMARY OF INTERPRETATIONS VARIANCE

N/A

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

Article 57. Where an enterprise in violation of the provisions of these regulations arranges a student to practice on post for more than 12 months, more than 8 hours a day or more than 40 hours a week, the Labour Administrative Department of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order it to make corrections and may impose a fine of no less than 100 yuan but no more than 500 yuan for each of the infringed students. Where an enterprise, in violation of the provisions of these regulations, withholds or delays the payment of the internship remuneration of the students on post, the Labour Administrative Department of the local people's government at or above the county level shall order it to pay the internship remuneration within a time limit. Where the internship remuneration is lower than the local minimum wage standard, the difference shall be paid. In the case of failure to pay within the time limit, the enterprise shall be ordered to pay the internship remuneration in full, and to pay additional compensation to the internship student on post according to the standard of 50% to 100% of the payable amount.

Article 58. Where an internship student who has an accident injury in the process of labour fails to apply for accident injury insurance in accordance with the provisions or the accident injury insurance money is insufficient to compensate, the enterprise shall bear the liability for compensation. If the school that organizes the internship fails to fulfill its management responsibility, it shall bear the supplementary liability for compensation

IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPROVEMENT GUIDANCE

COMPLIANCE IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPROVEMENT STEPS

Evaluate The Condition:

1. Management should have a list of all jobs and tasks that are completed in the factory.  The factory should clearly identify those tasks that require the use of highly dangerous chemicals, work at heights and those that require a lot of physical labour including heavy lifting.

2. Review the schedules, working hours and rest days of each student intern.

3.  Review documentation in place to confirm the length of the work program for interns. Any contracts that do not stipulate a maximum work period for interns should be identified for correction. 

4. Training programs and records that confirm training that has been completed should be verified to confirm that they include student interns as appropriate.

5.  Review factory insurance documentation to confirm that the coverage includes student interns.

Take Action:

1. From the list of all jobs in the factory, management must identify the jobs that are also suitable for interns that may be hired by the factory.

2. For those jobs that could be assigned to an intern,  management should verify that the jobs are not included in the list of restrictions (hazardous work, overtime assignments or work on holidays or rest days) in the law requirement. If the factory identifies any conflicts they should remove interns from those jobs/tasks and/or working schedules in order to comply.

3. Student interns should only be scheduled for work based on standard working hours in the factory.  Student interns are not eligible for overtime work as their work cannot be more than 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week.  All managers including department supervisors should be aware of this restriction.

4. Contracts in place between the factory and a vocational school should confirm that the work period for interns is restricted to no more than 12 months.

5. All safety training should include interns in the factory.  Management must pay extra attention to interns to make sure they understand all the safety policies in place. This may include providing extra direct instruction to interns as they probably have very little factory experience. Any safety incidents that involve interns should be reviewed to see if there are opportunities to improve safety training given to interns.

6. Associated policies and procedures should be formally updated and all applicable staff briefed on such changes include those responsible for working assignments.

COMMON CHALLENGES

The working hours and internship duration of the interns do not comply with the regulations due to a lack of awareness around gender issues and the law with regards to recruitment. Immature systems to evaluate performance as it relates to advancement.

BUSINESS CASE AND/OR OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

 The law states that the health of student workers must not be negatively affected by work so there are restrictions on the type of work that students can do as well as how long they work and how they are protected in a factory.  This is to make sure that their long term health is not negatively impacted by any work they would do in a factory.

Failure to adhere to the regulatory requirements for young workers can result in high penalties. Penalties and criminal charges can be particularly severe for factories and management in cases where young workers are injured or killed in the workplace as a result of regulations not being followed.

COMMON JOB FUNCTION: Human Resource Manager

COMMON JOB, SUB-FUNCTION: Production Manager

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 Nil

RELATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Young Workers - Vocational School Requirements

ASSOCIATED INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

ILO CLUSTER: Child Labour

ILO COMPLIANCE POINT: Child Labour

ILO COMPLIANCE QUESTIONS: Also in: Contracting and Human Resources/Employment Contracts/"Do the employment contracts comply with other legal requirements?"

SDG RELEVANCE 4, 8, 12