Legal Notebook

“Shared Employment” (“SE”) and “Platform Employment” (“PE”) become very popular in recent years. They are always mentioned as a method to reduce labor cost in social Medias. However, many enterprises donot have a comprehensive picture of the two, such as the employment model, the difference from normal employment, and relevant risks. Let’s talk about the “SE”. At the beginning of 2020, due to the epidemic, the majority enterprises had to suspend operation, especially those enterprises in the catering and tourism industries, at the same time, manufacturers of anti-epidemic products, logistics enterprises and a few enterprises which could and must operate…

Chen was the executive chef of Company H, and the model of H’s promotional photos, posters and videos, in which he wore a chef’s uniform, holding a plate of Hainanese chicken or a bowl of Hainanese chicken rice. After resigned, he found those promotional materials were still presenting on internet, so he filed a lawsuit against H with the claim that H had infringed his portrait rights. H defended that Chen was aware that it would use those promotional materials, and he had not raised any objections, so it did not constitute an infringement of portrait rights. Chen argued that…

Article 2 of the “Law on the Prevention & Control of Occupational Diseases” stipulates that “……the ’Occupational Diseases’ refers to diseases suffered by the workers of such Employer as enterprises, public institutions, and individual economic organizations due to exposure to dust, radioactive substances, and other toxic and hazardous factors.” Therefore, employers shall implement the responsibilities as stipulated in this law on the management of occupational diseases (hereinafter referred to as “ODs”) for employees who have signed labor contracts. The responsibilities mainly include arranging occupational health check before, during and after employment, providing ODs-related treatments and etc.. However, for some special…

There are several companies applied for dissolution everyday. However, compared with tangible assets, such as real estate, equipment and etc., many companies have ignored IPRs, such as trademarks, patent and etc.. If IPRs have not been arranged well and timely, companies or their shareholders might encounter troubles or miss good business opportunities. Therefore, if a company plans to submit the dissolution application, it shall settle IPRs in advance, such as transferring IPRs to another party, and handling the application for change in a timely manner. It should be noted that when transferring trademarks, similar trademarks registered on the same commodity,…

In order to increase employees’ sense of belonging and improve cohesion, Company A invited employees and their family members to take a tour of another city. One day, during the dinner, employee B’s husband and employee C’s father were passionate about toasting to each other, and B’s husband was a little bit drunk. After the dinner, B’s husband went swimming, and unfortunately, he drowned in the hotel’s swimming pool. B claimed that Company A, C’s father and the hotel were liable, because Company A organized the tour and should be responsible for the safety of its employees and their family…

In practice, it is common for companies to have a registered address and another actual business address. The reasons are various, such as, a company has been relocated, but it forgot to change the registered address in time; or a company sets its registered address in a specific district for special preferential policies, and sets another actual business address in a more convenient district, and so on. From the perspective of administrative management, such arrangement is allowable. However, such inconsistency would still bring some negative effects to enterprises. Regarding the litigation, there are 2 main negative impacts: (1) If a…

Many companies have signed a Non-competition Restrictive Covenant (the “NCRC”) with employees. However, the issues related to the economic compensation have been ignored in many cases, due to which many disputes arise. This article is aimed to sort out the relevant common misunderstandings and consequences for companies’ reference. Misunderstanding No.1: There is no agreed amount of the economic compensation. Analysis: If there is no agreed amount of economic compensation, the NCRC is still valid, and the specific amount shall be determined by the judicial authorities. Article 6 of the “Interpretations of Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Relating to Laws…

A Japanese Company M appointed Mr. A to serve as the head of the R&D department of its subsidiary in China. Just few months later, Mr. A created a significant invention. Company M and its subsidiary had different opinions on the ownership of this invention, the amount of the remuneration, and the payer. Article 6 of the “Patent Law” stipulates that a service invention is an invention completed by an employee in the course of performing duties for the employer or completed by substantially using the material and technical conditions of the employer. The employer shall have the rights to…

In August 2020, a bank employee released a real-name statement on Weibo, claiming that he had suffered long-term mental torture from his leader, such as, he was ordered to stay at the pantry next to the elevator for three consecutive months, and he could only go out for dinner and go to the bathroom during working hours; if he disobeyed this order, the security personnel would force him to go back to the pantry. Following with this piece of news, the topic of “Power Harassment” (commonly known as “Workplace PUA”) becomes a hot topic again. “职权骚扰” derived from its English…

Both “Contract Law” (repeal on 1 Jan. 2021) and “Civil Code” (effective from 1 Jan. 2021) stipulate that either the commissioning party or the commissioned party may terminate the commission contract at any time, which is the right of termination without any reason. “The law stipulates either party could terminate the commission contract at any time, because the foundation of such contract is the personal trust. Once such trust is vanished, the necessarity of the contract is vanished as well, and the parties should be allowed to terminate the contract.” (Refer to the Supreme People’s Court (2013) Min Shen Zi…