People hunt for jobs at the 2024 Beijing large-scale spring on-site job fair on March 30, 2024. The recruitment event brought together 200 enterprises and institutions providing nearly 7,000 job opportunities. Photo: IC

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Monday highlighted the significance of properly handling labor disputes and contract cases, including tackling gender and regional discriminations in hiring practices in accordance with the law and promoting equal opportunities for college graduates.

He Xiaorong, a vice president of SPC, made these remarks at a press conference aimed at enhancing wage arrears governance and protecting labor rights, according to The Paper. He revealed that courts across the nation had handled 590,000 first-instance labor dispute cases and 660,000 first-instance labor contract disputes from January to November this year.

He said that the proper handling of labor disputes and contract cases is essential for protecting employees' legitimate rights, safeguarding employers' interests, enforcing labor and social security system reforms, fostering harmonious labor relations, maintaining business stability and facilitating the growth of new economic models.

He then cited examples such as effectively adjudicating cases of disputes over the right to equal employment, rectifying employers' discriminatory practices like gender and regional discriminations in hiring and refusal to sign labor contracts, removing unjustified barriers, and promoting equal employment opportunities and flexible employment through multiple channels for college graduates, according to the report.

Other measures include implementing equal employment and payment for urban and rural workers, improving fast-track procedures for handling wage arrears cases involving migrant workers, prioritizing the enforcement of eligible cases for "advance relief," establishing a long-term mechanism for managing wage arrears, and legally supporting the orderly integration of rural migrant workers into urban work and life.

Approximately 1,000 criminal cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration and about 82,000 first-instance civil cases related to labor remuneration disputes were handled by courts nationwide between January and November, He noted. By mid-December, courts at all levels had concluded around 69,000 cases involving migrant workers, recovering 1.72 billion yuan in compensation, as reported by The Paper.

The court also effectively implemented the judicial interpretation for criminal casess of refusal to pay labor remuneration, using penalties to punish malicious wage arrears and create a strong deterrent against such actions, according to the report.

In addition, China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Sunday launched a monthly employment assistance campaign with the aim to help workers face employment difficulties, members of zero-employment households, and registered unemployed individuals find new jobs and start businesses.

Global Times