Ran Hui, a deputy to the National People’s Congress [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, courts at three levels in Southwest China’s Chongqing have actively performed their adjudicatory functions, accurately dealt with the impact of the epidemic, properly handled labor dispute cases arising during the epidemic, adhered to the principle of paying equal attention to the protection of workers’ legitimate rights and interests and safeguarding enterprises’ development in bringing the city's economic and social development back on track.

During the epidemic, the Chongqing Fourth Intermediate People's Court used various online smart court platforms to provide the parties with contactless litigation services such as online filing, cross-regional filing, online payment and online trials, including mediation of labor disputes.

The court took mediation as the major approach to resolving labor disputes during the epidemic and set up WeChat groups to promote mutual understanding between employers and workers.

At present, as China is trying to bring its economic and social development back to normal it is important to maintain economic stability. To this end, courts should continue to take good measures to ensure the resumption of enterprises’ work and production. Ran Hui, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, put forward the following suggestions:

Firstly, courts should open green channels for labor disputes and cases concerning resumption of work and production to facilitate the swift movement of those matters through the litigation process.

Secondly, when it comes to enforcement of court rulings, courts should set aside enterprises’ business accounts and assets when taking such compulsory measures as sealing up, freezing and detaining so as to help the two sides reconcile with each other, possibly through agreeing to installment payments.

Thirdly, courts should work to resolve conflicts and disputes in multiple ways, drawing on mediation committees, industry associations, and enterprises’ internal mediation organizations to nip disputes in the bud.

Fourthly, courts must actively study labor-related legal issues arising from production resumption and stick to the concept of paying equal attention to the protection of workers’ legitimate rights and interests and enterprises’ development when trying cases.