Nicholas Lakeland, Employment Partner at Laytons and Donfil Huang, Legal Advisory Manager at Dezan Shira & Associates (DSA) share legal knowledge focusing on contractual considerations while hiring in China and the UK for an exclusive series.
In China, full-time employment contracts must be signed, whereas part-time employment contracts are accepted by oral agreement. Employment contracts should be signed no later than one month after the starting work date.
If an employer does not sign an employment contract with an employee for one year from the starting date it will be regarded as a non-fixed term employment contract is concluded on the date of such first anniversary. Chinese laws acknowledge contracts in electronic form under certain conditions.
In the UK, employers must ensure that every employee has signed, or at least been given, a contract of employment, right from day one.
If a contract hasn’t been signed or provided to the employee, then that should be remedied as soon as possible and is not something that should be left in abeyance, not least because the contract provisions related to restrictive covenants may not be enforceable.
Drafting a contract of employment in China and the UK (minimum requirements) Episode one: Do we have to sign employment contracts in writing with every employee? What if we do not or we have missed doing so?
