【英语中国】中国员工热衷上法庭维权

Chinese employees have become keen litigants since Beijing introduced legal tools to fight exploitation at work, reports Patti Waldmeir in Shanghai.

Cases can cost multinational companies millions of dollars, say employment lawyers.

China's tough labour contract law, which came into force in 2008, was not aimed at multinational groups, which were not viewed as the biggest exploiters. But it has had unexpected consequences, including a sharp rise in overtime disputes – even though the law does not change the rules on overtime.

“In China, the basic rule is that everybody is entitled to overtime,” said Andreas Lauffs, of the US law firm Baker & McKenzie.

Statistics are hard to come by. But labour lawyers and court reports indicate that the number of employment disputes has soared, with sacked workers increasingly claiming back overtime. Some companies fear potential exposure of up to $20m (

自从中国政府出台了针对职场剥削的法律以来，中国雇员已变得热衷于用法律手段解决问题。

劳动事务律师称，相关案件可能为跨国公司带来成百上千万美元的成本。

中国强硬的《劳动合同法》于2008年生效，其目标并非针对跨国公司，因为后者并未被视为最大的剥削者。但这一法律的出台产生了意想不到的后果，比如加班争议案例急剧上升，虽然劳动法本身并未变更有关加班的规定。

“在中国，基本规则是，每个人都有权加班，”美国律师事务所贝克?麦坚时国际律师事务所(Baker & McKenzie)的刘恩德(Andreas Lauffs)说。

统计数据很难获得，但劳动事务律师和法院的报告显示，劳资纠纷数量出现了激增，越来越多的被辞退员工要求获得之前的加班工资。一些公司担心潜在成本高达2000万美元。

“在中国，若不支付巨额费用，终止和调整劳动合同的空间很小，”上海一位从事劳动事务的外国律师说。

贝克?麦坚时上海代表处的Joseph Deng说：“《劳动合同法》颁布之前，大多数公司解雇员工时没有什么法律风险。现在他们开始看到了风险，因为员工越来越有可能将雇主告上法庭。”

译者/功文