Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - China (Ratification: 1934)

Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the Convention. Exceptions to weekly rest. Compensation. Consultation. Following its previous comments on the flexible working time schemes provided for by the Measures for the Examination and Approval of Flexible Working Hours Arrangement and Consolidated Hours Scheme (No. 503), 1994 (hereinafter, Approval Measures), the Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that: (i) in accordance with the provisions of section 39 of the Labour Law and the Approval Measures, if an enterprise cannot implement the standard working-hour system due to its production characteristics, with the approval of the labour administrative department, it can implement other work and rest systems such as the integrated working hour system; (ii) the integrated working hour system is mainly applicable to the positions that need continuous work within a certain period of time, such as those in transportation, railway, post and telecommunications, water transportation, aviation, fishery and other sectors, as well as the positions in the sectors that require to arrange concentrated work and concentrated rest due to seasonal and natural conditions, such as the positions in geological and natural resource exploration, construction, salt making, sugar making, tourism and other sectors; (iii) if an enterprise makes the workers who follow the integrated working hour system work on official holidays, they shall pay overtime wages according to the standard of extended working hours on official holidays; (iv) the departments of human resources and social security at all levels have strictly enforced the approval procedures, requiring enterprises to fully consult their employees and the trade union of the enterprise, failure to which will result in disapproval; (v) if an employer infringes upon the rights of workers to rest and remuneration, he or she will be punished according to law, and workers have the right to safeguard their rights and interests by complaining to the labour inspectorate and applying for arbitration of labour disputes; and (vi) from 2013 to 2021, labour inspectorates at all levels have investigated and dealt with a total of 120,000 cases of various violations of working hours and provisions on rest and vacation, including violations of the provisions on weekly rest. In this respect, the Committee observes that according to section 44 of the Labour Law, overtime compensation, including work during weekly rest, shall be paid if no compensatory rest is granted, and that the Approval measures do not seem to contain provisions regarding the granting of compensatory rest in case of work during the weekly rest period. The Committee recalls that Article 5 of the Convention requires workers who are deprived of their weekly rest to be granted compensatory rest irrespective of any monetary compensation, in order to protect the physical and mental health of workers. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that in law and in practice, compensatory rest is granted to workers who are required to work in their weekly rest day. It also requests the Government to continue making every effort to ensure that authorizations to work during the weekly period are granted, special regard being had to all proper humanitarian and economic considerations and after consultation with responsible associations of employers and workers. It finally requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this respect, including regarding the activities of the labour inspectorate to prevent and sanction infringements to workers’ weekly rest entitlements.