On March 6, 2016, the Seminar about questions of modifying Labor Contract Law, which was associated by the Social Law Studies Institute of China Law Society and hosted by Peking University Law School, was successfully held in Room 307 of Koguan Building.Honorary President JiaJunling , President Zhang Mingqi, Executive Vice President Lin Jia, Vice President and General Secretary Ye Jingyi, Vice President Chang Kai, Feng Yanjun, GuoJie, Jiang Junlu, RuiLixin, Wang Quanxing, Zheng Shangyuan, and Executive Director Chen Bulei, Cheng Yanyuan, Shi Meixia, Wang Wenzhen, Jiang Ying, Lu Jingbo, XueChangli, Zhao Hongmei, Zhang Ruiling, a total of more than twenty well-known experts of labor law attended the meeting.

At the seminar, experts discussed the issues related to the modification of labor law, provided theoretical support and made suggestion. The issues for discussing included the modification background, how to assess the Labor Contract Law, the reasons for modifying, the trends and the specific plan.

Professor Chang Kai, from Labor and Human Resources School of Renmin University of China, pointed out that the modification of the Labor Contract Law was related to the future of the entire labor relations and labor issues to the rule of law; evaluation of the Labor Contract law on China labor costs needed to be supported by specific data; in normal labor relations under the new economic adjustment, the government should take more responsibility. Professor Feng Yanjun from Jilin University Law School pointed out that Labor Contract Law was a protection of the weak overall livelihood, contained the concept of the rule of law and social legislation fit with Chinese characteristics Civilization, so this law should be affirmed; meanwhile, timely and appropriate modifications Labor contract law is also necessary; the law should properly handle the relationship between fairness and efficiency. Professor Lin Jia from Renmin University of China also stressed that the the aim of Labor Contract Law – for better protection of workers was correct, the current economic was under pressure, to modify the law was necessary but should also be very careful; not only the problem of legislation, but also the problem of the law enforcement should be concerned. Professor JiaJunling from Peking University Law School recalled the history of the Labor Contract Law. She thought that the modifications of Labor Contract Law wasrelated to the adjustment of the social major interest, and simply by modifying the Labor Contract Law could not realize the goal of releasing the economic pressure. Vice president of CLS, President of the Social Law Studies Institute CLS Zhang Ming, spoke highly of the above the opinions, which are objective, rational, fair and pragmatic. He pointed out that the problem should also solved with large data and other methods to strengthen the empirical analysis of existing research.

Experts also discussed about no fixed term labor contract,the written labor contract, economic compensation, layoffs and economic dispatch, etc. Finally, Professor Wang Quanxing from Shanghai University of Finance and Law School made concluding remarks and summarized the consensus and conclusion of the seminar.

The seminar lasted for over seven hours and ended at a heated atmosphere. Experts made full exchange of views around the problems of modifying Labor Contract Law. This seminar was a complete success.

Translated by: Deng Bowen