Provision on the Administration of Internships for Vocational School Students : Article 16

LAW DETAILS

LINK TO FULL TEXT OF LAW:

http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/s271/201801/t20180112_324419.html

SUMMARY OR KEY PROVISION OF THE LAW

When any student works as an intern by following the experienced staff or undertaking all duties required by a position, the employer shall abide by the regulations on work time, rest and leaves stipulated by the Chinese law, with the following situations prohibited.

1) Cannot work in the pit or at dangerous heights, engage in radioactive, poisonous, flammable and combustible work, or work on any other high risk tasks;

2) Cannot work on the statutory holidays;

3) Cannot work overtime or at night.

SUMMARY OF INTERPRETATIONS VARIANCE

N/A

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

Article 26. Vocational schools that, in violation of these provisions, organize students to practice shall be ordered by the competent Department of Vocational Schools to make corrections. In the case of refusal to make corrections, the person in charge directly responsible and other persons directly responsible shall be given sanctions in accordance with relevant provisions. If a major accident is caused by a fault in work, the person responsible shall be investigated for responsibility according to law and regulations. The vocational school may adjust the internship arrangement according to the situation and require the internship unit to assume relevant responsibilities in accordance with the internship agreement for the internship unit that violates the relevant provisions of these regulations and the internship agreement.

IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPROVEMENT GUIDANCE

COMPLIANCE IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPROVEMENT STEPS

Evaluate The Condition:

1. Create a list of all jobs that are completed by workers in the factory.

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

Take Action:

1. From the list of all jobs in the factory, 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,  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 any conflicts are discovered,  remove interns from those jobs/tasks and/or working schedules in order to comply.

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

Note: the factory should work with schools to established a comprehensive internship plan for students, including hours worked in the factory and hours for study per week, and summarize their study effects monthly or per the study program to ensure students have accomplished their study.

COMMON CHALLENGES

If no overtime is assigned to student workers, they may resign and select other factories. A balanced approach is important to keep interns from resigning and accomplishing their objectives.

Student workers may be assigned hazardous job positions, work on holidays or given overtime and night shifts. This is often due to either:

A) The responsible person does not know the legal requirements.

B) There are obvious peak and non-peak production seasons and the factory finds it hard to hire workers for a short time. The student workers can fill gaps during peak seasons and they always work for short time.

BUSINESS CASE AND/OR OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

 Penalties for employing underage workers outside of the applicable regulations are high. Liability risks for the factory also are high in the event of the young worker sustaining injury or death in the workplace.

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: Contracts and Human Resources

ILO COMPLIANCE POINT: Employment Contracts

ILO COMPLIANCE QUESTIONS: Do the employment contracts comply with other legal requirements?

Also included in ILO Child Labour/Child Labour

SDG RELEVANCE 4, 8, 12

Mosaic ID: Mosaic68596166