Study On The Judicial Difficulty And Legislation Improvement Of Economic Compensation System In Labor Law

The current stage is critical for the economic development of China,which has been driven by both all workers' hard work and economic interest generated by various employers.The interests of employees depend upon the employers' and vice versa.In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees,the Chinese labor law and regulations tend to afford more protections towards employees than employers.The system of economic compensation is especially established to warranty that an employer shall pay economic compensation to an employee for certain circumstances under applicable laws,where a labor contract between them has been dissolved or terminated.In the judicial practice,applying economic compensation involves the choice of laws and regulations regarding economic compensation,the determination of the circumstances under which economic compensation applies,the specific standards for computing the amount of economic compensation,etc.And disputes have been in existence in all of those areas—which have caused a large number of labor law actions with respect to economic compensation.Based on the status quo of legislation for and application of economic compensation and taking into account typical issues arising from relevant judicial practice,this paper discusses the application of economic compensation law with actual labor law cases and internal judicial guidelines by local authorities and points out the following: disputes caused by local judicial authorities due to selective application of extra economic compensation;different decisions on cases with the same facts because of the vague scope of circumstances under which economic compensation applies and of the different determination of the circumstances by local courts at all levels accordingly;confusions about how to apply laws containing overbroad and abstract languages such as “work conditions,” “labor protections,” and “significant changes of objective economic situation” as defined with insufficient legislative techniques and inadequate contents;and uncertainty about calculating the amount of economic compensation awarded due to unclear scope of wages and salaries defined in related supplementary systems.And because of the different understanding of the retrospective system of economic compensation,the controversy over the calculation of economic compensation payments.Considering those issues stated above and attempting to play a more active role in law application,the judicial branches of local governments have provided a series of internal adjudication guidelines so that judicial standards can be set up and same or similar decisions can be reached on cases with the same or similar facts.At the same time,however,the legalization of judicial policies and erroneous guidance as a result of incorrect understandings of provisions of relevant laws also have occurred.On the basis of prior discussions and analyses,this paper further suggests to perfect the legislation for and application of economic compensation by coordination of different laws,making clear the applicable premise of economic compensation,uniting the legislation regarding wages and salaries to furnish a definite basis for computing economic compensation,and regulating legal interpretation of the retroactivity rules of economic compensation.These suggestions are made hopefully to decrease disputes on applying economic compensation law,to employ limited judicial resources in a proper manner,to better protect workers' legitimate rights and interests and help with the regulation and management of employers,and to ultimately further the harmonious development of the relationship between employees and employers.