1. Read the award before choosing a remedy
First confirm that the document is an award, not an already effective mediation document. Under Article 50 of the PRC Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, a party dissatisfied with a non-final labor arbitration award may bring proceedings in the people’s court within 15 days of receiving the award. If no proceedings are brought within that period, the award takes legal effect. This is a court action following labor arbitration, not an appeal to another arbitration commission.
For an award classified as final under Article 47, the employer instead uses Article 49: an application to set aside the award, supported by a listed statutory ground, within 30 days of receipt, to the intermediate people’s court where the arbitration commission is located. The employee has a different route under Article 48: court proceedings within 15 days of receipt. Do not give the employer the employee’s right to sue against a final award.
2. Check finality item by item
Article 47 covers specified claims for remuneration, work-injury medical expenses, economic compensation or damages within the amount of 12 months of the local monthly minimum wage, as well as disputes over implementation of national labor standards on working time, rest and leave, social insurance and similar matters. The amount test is not 12 months of the employee’s own salary. Verify the applicable local minimum-wage standard rather than inserting a national figure.
Articles 18–20 of SPC Interpretation (I), Fa Shi [2020] No. 26, must be read together. The award’s stated classification is the starting point. If classification is omitted, Article 19 tests each awarded amount for the specified monetary claims, not their combined total. A single award containing both final and non-final matters is treated as non-final when challenged in court. If an unlabelled award is taken to a basic-level court and that court finds it final, Article 18 provides a specific redirection procedure, including 30 days from receipt of the non-acceptance ruling to seek setting aside. This is not a general extension for choosing the wrong route.
3. Preserve receipt evidence and assign the deadline
Save the full award, all attachments, envelope and tracking record, delivery acknowledgement and any electronic-service record. Identify who received which document and when, and check legally effective service. The date typed on the award and the date headquarters reads a translation are different facts. Do not postpone the review until an overseas approver returns or assume that a request for clarification stops the clock.
Create a short deadline sheet recording the award type, service evidence, applicable route, court, responsible person and filing target. Have counsel check the exact last day under the applicable computation and service rules; do not treat 15 or 30 days as working days. For an ordinary non-final award, Interpretation (I) Article 3 generally points to the basic-level court at the employer’s location or place of contract performance, subject to the provision’s exceptions. A setting-aside application follows the different intermediate-court rule above.
4. Match objections to the available procedure
Article 49 lists six grounds: error in applying laws or regulations; lack of arbitral jurisdiction; breach of statutory procedure; forged evidence on which the award rests; the other party’s concealment of evidence sufficient to affect a fair award; and arbitrator misconduct involving bribery, favoritism or an unlawful award. Identify the ground and supporting record. A general statement that the amount is too high or management disagrees with the facts is not, by itself, a statutory setting-aside ground.
For court litigation, assess the claims and evidence within that procedure rather than reusing a setting-aside template. Article 20 of SPC Interpretation (II), Fa Shi [2025] No. 12, also limits an arbitration-limitation defense first raised in litigation when the party failed to raise it in arbitration for its own reasons, with a new-evidence exception. Preserve the arbitration pleadings, evidence lists, objections and hearing records; changing forum does not automatically repair an omitted defense.
5. Coordinate employee litigation, payment and enforcement
Check whether the employee has sued. Under Interpretation (I) Article 21, an employee’s Article 48 action affects acceptance of the employer’s setting-aside application. If the employee’s action is dismissed or withdrawn, the provision gives the employer 30 days from receipt of the ruling to apply for setting aside. If an award is actually set aside, Article 49 of the Law gives the parties 15 days from receipt of that ruling to bring court proceedings on the dispute. Track these later rulings separately from the original award.
Article 51 requires performance of effective awards within the prescribed time. A plan to challenge does not itself suspend enforcement: Interpretation (I) Article 25 addresses court-ordered suspension when the employee seeks enforcement and the employer applies to set aside, and subsequent resumption or termination. Prepare the award and service record, arbitration file, proposed statutory grounds, employee court notices, payment status and approval authority. Initial contact should give a non-confidential outline of the employing entity, city, award type and receipt date; arrange secure document review separately. Lawyer consultations are in Chinese and English.
Legal sources
Official sources · Checked 2026-10-29. Translations are for reference and are not official legal texts.
- PRC Labor Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law ↗
Articles 42 and 47–51: mediation documents, finality, different remedies and performance.
- SPC Interpretation (I) on Labor Disputes, Fa Shi [2020] No. 26 ↗
Articles 3 and 18–25: court, classification, parallel proceedings and enforcement; read with later interpretations.
- SPC Interpretation (II) on Labor Disputes, Fa Shi [2025] No. 12 ↗
Articles 20–21: limitation defense, new-evidence exception and commencement on 1 September 2025.
General information about mainland China. The facts, applicable dates and local rules require individual review.
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Identify the correct court route, statutory grounds and filing materials before the deadline.
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