35 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/CHINA In 2008, Beijing-based law firm Lantai Partners established a labour law team to serve large institutional clients. Leading partner Cheng Yang informs ALB that whilst they had begun handling some overseas labour issues at that time, their work primarily involved compiling labour law reports for different countries to provide clients with pre-investment insights. However, since 2022, Cheng has observed a significant shift. Not only has client demand increased sharply, but the depth and breadth of services required have also expanded. She attributes this to a fundamental change in how Chinese companies are “going global”. “Previously, companies were primarily investing capital overseas, with local personnel handling management. Now, more Chinese employees are being sent abroad,” she explains, leading to greater challenges in overseas employment. “Companies are no longer content with just receiving legal advice; they need hands-on guidance to build labour compliance systems and solve real-world problems,” says Qin Chao, another partner at Lantai’s labour law team. Concurrently, Guangzhou-based World Commercial Law Firm (Tianshang) began offering legal services related to overseas labour compliance with the establishment of its “International Platform”. “With the surge of Chinese companies venturing abroad, labour issues have become a focal point,” notes Yan Yong, managing partner of Tianshang. “Clients are mainly focused on Belt and Road countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the UAE, and Syria. Services cover areas such as overseas employment law, qualification requirements, compensation and social benefits, anti-discrimination and harassment policies, anti-bribery and corruption, and employee data protection.” In addition to the broader trend of international expansion, Cheng highlights that certain nuanced developments have made overseas labour matters more complex. For instance, in the context of global tech competition, issues related to technology confidentiality are increasingly tied to labour, such as protecting trade secrets, and noncompete regulations that vary widely across countries. Other key issues include managing the dual employment relationship for Chinese employees sent abroad, who are subject to both Chinese and local laws, and the complexities of global tax and insurance arrangements. Moreover, work visa challenges have become more intricate amid geopolitical tensions. “We once assisted a client with handling work visas in over 20 countries,” Cheng reveals. GROWING CASES As client demand expands, labour lawyers are encountering an increasing number of interesting overseas cases. Yan of Tianshang notes that overseas labour services fall into two main categories: compliance for dispatching domestic workers to host countries, and compliance for hiring local employees in those countries. Recently, Tianshang’s team provided full-service support to a Chinese company investing in a factory in Thailand. “Working with our Thailand office and local partners, we handled everything from recruitment ads and drafting labour contracts to designing compensation structures, securing foreign work permits, establishing internal regulations and employee handbooks, building compliance management systems, conducting employee training, and ensuring personal data protection,” says Yan. This ensured the company met labour compliance requirements throughout the recruitment process. He Xiaochen, a partner at AnJie Broad Law Firm, shares that their labour team began working on overseas labour cases around 2017 and has seen a “significant increase” in demand over the past two years. The firm’s clients include both Chinese companies investing abroad and organizations providing HR services to these firms, with key markets LABOUR LAW
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