Legal Notebook

In order to increase the fertility rate, the national and local governments have released many favorable polices which include those welfare policies regarding fertility. Female employees have various leaves which have been adjusted from time to time. In order to help HRs, this article lists the latest regulations on various leaves in Shanghai for reference. Title Duration Remark Prenatal inspection leave The frequency shall be ordered by doctors, and there is no special requirement for duration. In practice, many employers would give half  a day to one day as needed.   The minimum frequency of the prenatal inspection could refer…

The “Standard Terms” (“STs”) refers to the clauses which have been drafted by one party in advance for repetitive use, and would not been or could not be negotiated with the counterparty. STs is very common in telecommunication service contracts, insurance contracts, various online shopping contracts, and etc. Normally, the providers are mightier, in order to maximize their rights and minimize their obligations and responsibilities, the providers usually set such terms stricter or less favorable to the counterparty. Where such terms are too strict, and obviously unfair to the counterparty, the law would interfere relevant contracts. The “Contract Law” prescribes…

Wong, a salesman of Company A, posted a message on his Wechat moments with several pictures, which included a picture shows a burned up shared power bank marked with Brand B, and a picture shows a test report of a shared power bank marked with Brand A indicating its qualified quality. Later, B sued A. A defended that it had no knowledge of Wong’s behavior which is a personal one, the court held that A had constituted unfair competition. In recent years, the mainstream viewpoint shows that WeChat’s moments, Weibo and other similar individual’s media are We-Media, which has a…

The application of internet in various fields has produced massive amount of data, such as the data from online shopping, online ticket booking, various APPs and so on, which are very valuable to many companies. For example, companies could make a better business decision through big data analysis in the process of early product development and user demand surveys; or in the sales process, companies could obtain “User Portraits” through big data analysis, and use it to make an appropriate pricing, a more precise forecast, a better promotion plan and etc. However, the method to obtain and use big data…

Lee signed a labor contract with Company A, an ink company, with a monthly salary of 50,000. Company A temporarily suspended production, and Lee was arranged to work for A’s affiliate Company B. During the secondment period, B paid 30,000 to Lee every month. 4 months later, Lee terminated the labor contract with the reason that A failed to pay the wages in full, and claimed the wage difference and economic compensation. The labor arbitration commission, the court of first and second instance all supported Lee’s claim. In this case, the relationship among Lee, A and B is a typical…

Employees’ fraud not only damages employers’ interests and social image, but also corrupts workplace atmosphere. If employers fail to manage such behaviors, it would encounter “the embankment of a thousand miles, collapsed in an ant’s nest.” Therefore, many companies attach great importance to compliance management, establish anti-corruption investigation mechanisms and rules, and several companies even set up anti-corruption reward funds to reward the report person. Recently years, cases involve employee corruption in well-known companies have been verified and released in the newspapers from time to time. However, anti-corruption investigations would inevitably involve employees’ personal information (“PI”), because you have to…

Zhan is the purchasing manager and trade union president of Shanghai K Company. K fired Zhan for serious violation of rules and regulations due to fake sick leave. Zhan filed labor arbitration, claiming that K had illegally terminated the labor contract with the reason that K had not obtained the consent of the trade union at the next level up. In order to protect committee members of a trade union from unfair treatment due to their performance of their duties, the “Trade Union Law”, the “Interim Measures for the Protection of the Legal Rights and Interests of the Trade Union…

Have you ever been attracted by a commodity’s using experience video on “Xiao Hong Shu” app? Maybe some of you have brought the endorsed commodity. Have you ever been touched by an article published via a WeChat official account? You found it had aroused your internal idea, the structure was so smooth, a commodity or service was just so matched, you would have the same using experience, you liked the brand, and finally you wanted to buy one. The video and article mentioned above are the so-called “Advertorial”. An “Advertorial” is a concept compared to “Advertisement”. Normally, an “Advertorial” refers…

The background investigation of “Employees” involves two circumstances. An employer requires an investigation of its candidate, or an employer is required to provide information of its former employee. Such investigation involves employees’ personal information which is sensitive. Recently, with the release of the “Personal Information Protection Law”, HRs become more alert to such investigation. Here, we would like to talk about the risks related to such investigation, and the relevant prevention measures. First, when an employer requires an investigation of its candidate, the following issues are worth to be noted. (1) What is the source of the relevant information? If…

While discussing the 20th anniversary celebration event of Company M, the planning department proposed to buy a batch of thermos, mark with M’s logo, and distribute to consumers and other commercial partners as souvenirs. Some staffs questioned about this proposal from the perspective of legal risk prevention and control. Generally speaking, the marks on a product or its packaging mainly have 4 functions: 1) to distinguish the source of goods by using a trademark or a design patent; 2) to meet the needs of consumers for acquiring product quality liabilities; 3) to regulate fair competition, and protect consumers’ right to…