Article 34 Labour contracts shall be reported to labour administrative departments after their conclusion. Labour contracts shall take effect automatically if no objections are raised by these labour administrative departments within 15 days after they are received.

Article 35 Labour contracts concluded in accordance with law shall he binding on both the enterprise and all of its employees. The standards on labour conditions and labour payments agreed upon in labour contracts concluded between individual labourers and their enterprises shall not be lower than those stipulated in collective contracts.

Chapter 4 Working Hours, Rests, and Leaves

Article 36 The State shall practise a working hour system wherein labourers shall work for no more than eight hours a day and no more than 44 hours a week on the average.

Article 37 In case of labourers working on the basis of piecework, the employer shall rationally fix quotas of work and standards of piecework remuneration in accordance with the working hour system stipulated in Article 36 of this Law.

Article 38 The employer shall guarantee that its labourers have at least one day off a week.

Article 39 If an enterprise can not follow the stipulations in Article 36 and Article 38 of this Law due to special characteristics of its production, it may follow other rules on work and rest with the approval by labour administrative departments.

Article 40 The employer shall arrange rests for labourers in accordance with law during the following holidays:

(1) The New Years Day;

(2) The Spring Festival;

(3) The International Labour Day;

(4) The National Day;

(5) Other holidays stipulated by laws and regulations.

Article 41 The employer can prolong work hours due to needs of production or businesses after consultation with its trade union and labourers. The work hours to be prolonged, in general, shall be no longer than one hour a day, or no more than three hours a day if such prolonging is called for due to special reasons and under the condition that the physical health of labourers is guaranteed. The work time to be prolonged shall not exceed, however, 36 hours a month.

Article 42 The prolonging of work hours shall not be subject to restrictions of stipulations of Article 41 of this Law in any one of the following cases:

(1) Need for emergency treatment during occurrence of natural disasters, accidents or other reasons that threaten the life, health or property safety of labourers;

(2) Need for timely rush-repair of production equipment, transportation lines or public facilities that have gone out of order and as a result affect production and public interests;

(3) Other cases stipulated in laws and administrative decrees.

Article 43 The employer shall not prolong the work hours of labourers in violation of the stipulations of this Law.

Article 44 The employer shall pay labourers more wage remunerations than those for normal work according to the following standards in any one of the following cases:

(1) Wage payments to labourers no less than 150 per cent of their wages if the labourers are asked to work longer hours;

(2) Wage payments to labourers no less than 200 per cent of their wages if no rest can be arranged afterwards for the labourers asked to work on days of rest;

(3) Wage payments to labourers no less than 300 per cent of their wages if the labourers are asked to work on legal holidays.

Article 45 The State follows the system of annual leaves with pay.

Labourers shall be entitled to annual leaves with pay after working for more than one year continuously. Specific rules on this shall be worked out by the State Council.

Chapter 5 Wages

Article 46 Distribution of wages shall follow the principle of distribution according to work and equal pay for equal work.

The level of wages shall be raised gradually on the basis of economic development. The State shall exercise macro regulation and control over total payrolls.

Article 47 The employer shall fix its form of wage distribution and wage level on its own and in accordance with this Law according to the characteristics of its production and businesses and economic efficiency.

Article 48 The State shall implement a system of guaranteed minimum wages. Specific standards on minimum wages shall be stipulated by provincial, autonomous regional and municipal peoples governments and reported to the State Council for registration.

The employer shall pay labourers wages no lower than local standards on minimum wages.

Article 49 Standards on minimum wages shall be fixed and readjusted with comprehensive reference to the following factors:

(1) The lowest living costs of labourers themselves and the number of family members they support;

(2) Average wage level of the society as a whole;

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