A difficult thing for me, since labor law is not exactly my thing (i.e., I find it dull and tedious). Apparently this is not the case over at China Law Blog, where Dan Harris seems to have ingested a sufficient quantity of delicious Seattle coffee and is therefore able to counteract the usual soporific effects of HR practice.

But is the new Labor Contract Law such a huge deal? I'm not so sure it is when compared to a lot of other interesting legislation, although insofar as the new law pushes a lot of companies to clean up their HR departments, it is certainly welcome.

Just a couple of comments:

1. Disputes – these have been going up in the labor area steadily for the past few years. In 2006, there was a significant jump in labor disputes, although I'm not sure why. I would expect this trend to continue, new law or not. Foreign companies are always tempting targets, and the new law will allow for some additional issues for employees and labor unions to jump on (sorry, bad grammar).

2. New Provisions – although there are some new things in the law, a lot of it represents codification of policies that already exist around the country or represent strengthening of rules that are not being enforced very well now. In that sense, the law is a useful step forward, but not necessarily a quantum leap.

One example is something that I deal with fairly often: non-compete provisions. On the downside, the new law creates a statutory maximum of, I believe, two years (I'm doing this from memory). Although it would be nice to have a longer period, as someone who has to write these things, I appreciate that we now have some additional guidance on what will/will not be considered unreasonable.

3. Retroactivity – seems like it is unclear how all of this will have an effect on existing contracts. I have no doubt that lawsuits will be filed based on current contracts, however. Certainly it makes sense for FIEs to perform HR audits and enter into new agreements if appropriate.

China Herald sees the new law as a change, but perhaps not a dramatic or fast-paced change. I guess I agree with Fons, although the proof will be in the enforcement and of course with future Implementing Regulations. I believe that Fons is also quite suspicious of "salivating" lawyers who are looking forward to the additional work brought on by the new law. Speaking for myself, I'd rather get a lot of work from the new IP laws when they are passed than the labor law, but yeah, there is always a certain amount of eagerness when new work appears on the horizon. Contrary to public opinion, we're only human.

Even writing this post made me sleepy, so don't expect much more from me in the future on this topic. I can't think of another subject less exciting; even tax is more fun. I wish I had some of that Seattle coffee.