1. Identify which rules directly affect employees
Article 4 of the Labor Contract Law addresses rules and major decisions directly concerning employees’ interests, including pay, working time, rest and leave, safety, benefits, training, discipline and work quotas. A policy audit should identify these provisions even when they sit in separate global manuals or online systems rather than a document called an employee handbook.
Map the local handbook, employment contract, incentive plan and group code of conduct. Record which document is intended to govern a particular issue. If different texts promise different leave, pay or disciplinary consequences, resolve the inconsistency before asking staff to acknowledge receipt.
2. Localize the substance, not only the language
An at-will termination clause, an automatic fine, or a global rule deducting pay should not be carried over without checking mainland China requirements. Review working-time arrangements, leave, payroll deductions and discipline against applicable national and local rules. A clause saying headquarters may change anything at any time cannot itself remove statutory limits or amend an agreed contract term.
For bilingual texts, test operational instructions as well as legal phrases. Employees and local managers need to understand how to report absence, obtain overtime approval, disclose conflicts and respond to an investigation. A formally accurate translation that points to an inaccessible foreign process may fail in daily use.
3. Keep evidence of the Article 4 adoption process
For covered rules, Article 4 calls for discussion by the employee congress or all employees, proposals and comments, followed by consultation on an equal basis with the trade union or employee representatives. The company should design an actual process appropriate to the workforce, rather than treating the HR system’s acceptance button as a substitute.
Retain the draft circulated, participants and invitations, comments received, meeting or consultation records, the company’s responses and the approved version. Record what happened rather than creating minutes retrospectively. Absence of a trade union is not a reason to assume that all employee-participation steps disappear.
4. Prove communication and control later changes
Article 4 also requires publication or notification of rules directly concerning employee interests. Keep a record identifying the exact version made available and how the employee could access it. A dated acknowledgment, training record or system record is useful only if it can be connected to the content actually provided.
When a global update changes local pay, leave, discipline or other covered matters, assess the local adoption and communication steps again. Preserve prior versions and effective dates so that a later dispute is assessed under the rule applicable when the conduct occurred.
5. A handbook does not prove a particular violation
Article 39(2) permits termination for a serious violation of employer rules. A policy clause is only one part of that assessment. The company still needs evidence of the conduct, the applicable valid rule, the seriousness of the violation and the required procedure. The facts of an individual investigation should not be replaced with the handbook’s conclusion.
For a review, gather both language versions, adoption records, acknowledgments, the affected contracts and any pending disciplinary matter. This allows the work to separate policy improvements for the future from the evidence available for a decision already under consideration.
Legal sources
Official sources · Checked 2026-09-20. English explanations are summaries, not official translations.
- PRC Labor Contract Law (2012 amendment) ↗
Articles 4, 35, 39(2) and 43.
- SPC Interpretation (I) on Labor Disputes, Fa Shi [2020] No. 26 ↗
Article 50: conditions for employment rules to serve as a basis in disputes; also Article 44 on evidence.
General information about mainland China. The facts, applicable dates and local rules require individual review.
Partner, Beijing ChangAn Law Firm
China-qualified since 2019 · Beijing & Shenzhen
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