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In celebration of Worldwide Girls’s Day, basic circumstances and judicial studies have been launched at each the nationwide and native court docket ranges to safeguard ladies’s employment rights and make clear employers’ obligations. On this replace, we summarise the circumstances and studies.
Nationwide basic case
As highlighted in our earlier replace, the Legislation on the Safety of Girls’s Rights and Pursuits (“Girls’s Safety Legislation“) establishes a treatment method of public curiosity litigation for feminine staff whose rights have been violated. Not too long ago, the Supreme Folks’s Procuratorate (who acts as a public prosecutor) launched a basic case involving a public curiosity litigation over the rights of pregnant staff. This case additionally illustrates the procedural framework of such litigation.
On this case, the employer unilaterally demoted worker H, who was three months pregnant, from a division administration place to a bodily demanding function with none session on an equal foundation. After H refused the place adjustment, the employer eliminated her from the work group, deleted her attendance information, and restricted her entry to work laptop computer. In consequence, H lodged a criticism with the native Girls’s Federation.[1]
The case was then delivered to the native district procuratorate, the place, upon investigation, the general public prosecutor discovered that the employer’s determination to regulate H’s place had violated the Employment Contract Legislation and the Girls’s Safety Legislation. The general public prosecutor thus coordinated with the judicial bureau to offer authorized support to H, helping her in initiating a labour arbitration. In the long run, H reached a settlement with the employer and acquired compensation.
The general public prosecutor additionally discovered that the employer, regardless of having practically 200 feminine staff, failed to include particular safety clauses for feminine staff into their employment contracts as mandated by legislation. The employer was additionally discovered to have unreasonably adjusted roles, created limitations for pregnancy-related medical depart, and uncared for to rearrange common ladies’s well being examine ups. These actions had infringed upon the employment rights of an unspecified variety of feminine staff, which was later acknowledged by the listening to officer as properly through the listening to process.
In consequence, the general public prosecutor issued a pre-litigation prosecutorial suggestion to the district Human Sources and Social Safety Bureau (HRSSB) in accordance with the Girls’s Safety Legislation, ordering the employer to rectify its illegal actions. The HRSSB subsequently investigated the employer, interviewed the administration in cost, and urged the employer to ascertain inside insurance policies in addition to supplementing the employment contracts with clauses specifically for the safety of feminine staff within the office.
This basic case serves as a precious reminder for all employers that feminine staff not solely have a proper to lodge complaints with competent authorities such because the Girls’s Federation, but additionally that particular person complaints can result in a public curiosity litigation underneath the Girls’s Safety Legislation, which might probably set off an investigation into the employer’s employment practices.
Native judicial studies and basic circumstances
Quite a lot of native courts additionally issued judicial studies, basic circumstances or authorized guides regarding labour disputes involving feminine staff. Of explicit observe, the Suzhou Intermediate Folks’s Court docket revealed a Work Report on the Trial of Labour Disputes Involving Feminine Staff from 2018 to 2023 (“the Report“) together with ten basic circumstances. The Report delves into trending judicial points together with “three-period” issues (i.e., being pregnant, maternity and nursing intervals), gender discrimination, office sexual harassment and retirement. We summarise among the key points beneath.
- If an worker conceals her being pregnant standing throughout recruitment, does it represent fraud?
Usually no, however exceptions apply for sure roles.
The Employment Contract Legislation limits an employer’s proper to know to “fundamental conditions immediately associated to the employment contract.” As well as, the Girls’s Safety Legislation usually prohibits employers from inquiring a few feminine candidate’s marital and childbearing standing throughout recruitment. Subsequently, being pregnant normally falls outdoors the scope of an applicant’s disclosure obligations, and non-disclosure doesn’t represent fraud.
Nevertheless, for particular roles together with these requiring intensive handbook labour or high-altitude work, pregnancy-related physiological modifications may inevitably influence the efficiency of the employment contract. In such circumstances, being pregnant turns into a “fundamental state of affairs immediately associated to the employment contract,” and candidates are anticipated to reveal their being pregnant standing. Failure to take action may very well be thought-about fraud.
- The nationwide laws mandate a retirement age of 55 for feminine staff in administration or technical positions, and 50 for these in different positions. How is “administration or technical place” outlined?
If the time period “administration or technical place” is outlined within the employment contract or firm insurance policies, that definition applies.
If there isn’t any such definition within the employment contract or firm insurance policies, the worker’s precise job obligations and the accepted societal norms must be thought-about. Sometimes, high and center administration roles are broadly recognised as administration positions. Nevertheless, it’s unclear whether or not roles involving managerial duties with out direct studies could also be thought-about as administration positions. In such circumstances, the court docket will resolve on a case-by-case foundation, contemplating elements similar to the dimensions of the corporate’s operations and the character of enterprise.
- The Civil Code and the Girls’s Safety Legislation set up a authorized obligation for employers to stop and tackle harassment. Nevertheless, to what extent ought to employers fulfil their responsibility to guard and take care of the harassed? (For instance, if the harassed worker resigns on the grounds that the employer has not fulfilled its responsibility to stop sexual harassment and claims statutory severance, how will the court docket rule?)
Usually, an employer’s authorized responsibility to stop and cease sexual harassment implies that they’ve an obligation to actively intervene when a criticism or report of sexual harassment is acquired. This intervention consists of conducting investigations and taking follow-up actions. If the employer can show that they’ve performed the investigation and brought cheap and applicable actions, they are going to be deemed to have fulfilled the responsibility to stop and tackle sexual harassment, and the request for statutory severance by the harassed worker wouldn’t be supported.
In figuring out whether or not an motion is “cheap and applicable”, elements to think about might embrace whether or not the employer has imposed disciplinary motion that correspond to the severity of the harasser’s conduct in accordance with inside insurance policies, and whether or not disciplinary motion can successfully stop the recurrence of such harassment.
Key takeaways
The judicial traits spotlight an enhanced give attention to defending feminine staff, with quite a lot of potential treatments for girls to say their rights, together with reporting to competent authorities, public curiosity litigation or labour dispute. Employers’ obligation has been additional clarified, emphasising the necessity for proactive intervention in response to sexual harassment complaints. Given this, employers ought to be certain that employment contracts, firm insurance policies and practices are compliant with authorized obligations which pertain to ladies’s employment rights, and that they set up clear procedures for investigating and addressing sexual harassment complaints.
[1] The official, state-sponsored group to symbolize and safeguard the rights and pursuits of girls and promote gender equality, additionally one of many competent authorities underneath the Girls’s Safety Legislation.
中国：女性就业权利最新案例与审判报告
为庆祝国际妇女节，国家和地方层面都发布典型案例和审判报告，以保障女性的就业权益并明确雇主的义务。在本次更新中，我们对这些案例和报告进行了总结。
国家层面的典型案例
我们此前的更新中提到，《妇女权益保障法》（“《妇保法》”）为权益受到侵害的女性员工设置了公益诉讼的救济途径。近期，最高人民检察院发布的一则涉及孕期女职工权益的公益诉讼典型案例。该典型案例还展示了公益诉讼的程序。
在这则案件中，雇主在未与员工H平等协商的情况下单方面将怀孕3个月的员工H从部门管理岗位降职调整至体力劳动岗位。员工H拒绝调整岗位后，雇主还将其移出工作群、删除其打卡出勤记录，并限制其使用工作电脑。员工因此向当地的妇女联合会提起投诉。
案件随后被移送至区检察院。检察院经调查了解，雇主调整员工H的工作岗位的行为违反了《劳动合同法》和《妇保法》的相关规定。检察院协调司法局为员工H提供了法律援助，支持员工H提起劳动仲裁。最终员工H与雇主达成了和解并获得了赔偿。
检察院还发现，雇主在有近200名女职工的情况下，未按照法律规定将女职工特殊保护条款写入劳动合同，且存在违法随意调岗、对产检请假设置障碍、未安排妇女特殊需要的定期体检等侵害不特定女职工劳动和社会保障权益情形。 在之后的听证会中，听证员也对此事实予以了认定。
检察院因此依照《妇保法》向区人力资源和社会保障局发出诉前检察建议，责令雇主对违法行为进行整改。人社局随后对雇主进行调查、约谈了雇主的单位负责人，并督促雇主制定了《工作场所女职工特殊劳动保护制度》等规章制度，在劳动合同中补充列明女职工特殊保护的条款。
这则典型案例对各雇主是一个很好的提醒。它不仅意味着女性员工可以通过向妇女联合会等有关部门投诉来维护自身权益，也揭示了个体投诉也有可能引发《妇保法》下的公益诉讼，
地方司法报告与地方典型案例
不少地方法院也发布了涉女职工劳动争议的报告、典型案例或法律指南。其中值得注意的是，苏州市中级人民法院发布了一份《2018-2023 年涉女职工劳动争议审判工作报告》（“《报告》”）及十大典型案例。该《报告》探讨了包括“三期”（孕期、产期和哺乳期）、性别歧视、职场性骚扰、退休等热点司法问题。我们在下文中总结了一些重要的问题。
- 员工隐瞒怀孕事实入职是否构成欺诈？
不构成，但一些特殊岗位除外。根据《劳动合同法》，用人单位的知情权以“劳动者与劳动合同直接相关的基本情况”为边界。根据《妇保法》，用人单位在招聘过程中原则上无权询问女性求职者的婚育情况。因此，一般来说，怀孕情况不被包括在应聘者的告知义务范围内，员工未告知怀孕情况并不构成欺诈。
不过，对于一些特殊岗位，例如需要密集体力劳动、高空作业的岗位，怀孕导致的生理变化势必影响劳动合同的履行，怀孕情况应当视为“与劳动合同直接相关的基本情况”，求职者理应如实告知怀孕事实，否则可被认定为欺诈。
- 国家规定管理或技术岗位的女职工退休年龄为55周岁，其他女职工退休年龄为50周岁。如何对“管理或技术岗位”进行界定？
如劳动合同或规章制度中对“管理或技术岗位”进行了界定，则依据劳动合同或规章制度确定。
如合同或制度中没有相关约定， 则结合员工工作内容、社会常识认知予以综合考量。现实中，最高管理层以及中层管理者根据社会常识认知被界定为管理岗争议较少。但某些不存在团队（或下属）却又从事管理工作内容的岗位是否属于管理岗位，还存在不确定性，需要法院结合企业的规模、类型等个性化因素进行判断。
- 《民法典》、《妇保法》确立了雇主防治骚扰的法定义务。然而，雇主对被骚扰者的保护照顾义务应当具体细化到何种程度？（例如，如被骚扰者以用人单位未尽到性骚扰防治义务而提出离职，并主张经济补偿，法院将如何认定？）
一般来说，用人单位承担预防和制止性骚扰的法定义务，意味着用人单位在接到性骚扰投诉或举报后，有义务主动介入到性骚扰事件中，介入行为包括调查和处置。如用人单位举证证明其已经采取相应调查、处置措施且处置措施合理恰当的，应当认定用人单位已经尽到性骚扰防治义务，对被骚扰者要求经济补偿的请求不予支持。
其中，处置措施“合理恰当”宜考量：用人单位是否依据骚扰者的行为严重程度对应规章制度进行了相应的处罚，以及；用人单位通过对骚扰者的相应处罚能否避免骚扰行为再次发生等。
要点总结
近期的司法趋势体现了对女性员工权益保护的进一步加强，并为女性维护自身权益提供了多种类的救济途径，包括向主管部门举报、公益诉讼或劳动争议。雇主义务得到了进一步明确，尤其强调了对性骚扰投诉进行积极干预的必要性。鉴于此，各雇主应该确保其劳动合同、规章制度和劳动管理已遵循有关妇女权益保护的法律义务，并建立起调查和处置性骚扰投诉的清晰程序。
Key Contacts
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