Answer: Assignment contract is a type of employment contract newly stipulated in the Employment Contract Law (not in the Labor Law), which is applicable to the completion of specific work task for a period of time. The purpose is to facilitate the employer to flexibly employ personnel for specific work projects.
The law does not stipulate how to legally sign an assignment employment contract. In the judicial practice, a common dispute is an employment contract under the name of assignment employment contract is actually a fixed-term or other type of employment contract. There are great differences in legal consequences, for example, if an employer signs two consecutive fixed-term employment contracts with an employee, it must sign a permanent employment contract with the employee for the third time. For example, in the case of Xia Hanming in 2020, the Nanjing Intermediate Court of Jiangsu Province held that since employees had cross-signed two fixed-term contracts and two assignment contracts, there was no fact that they had signed two consecutive fixed-term contracts, so the employee’s claim for a permanent contract was not established.1Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of the Labor Dispute between Xia Hanming, the Eighth Construction Branch of China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Co., Ltd., China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Co., Ltd., and the Foreign Engineering Branch of China Jiangsu International Economy and Technology Cooperation Group Ltd. Civil Judgment of Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court of Jiangsu Province (2020) Su 01 Min Zhong No.5.
From the detailed analyses of the court cases that define the nature of assignment contract, we can see that whether the work assignment contract signed by both parties is essentially another type of employment contract depends on the following factors: whether the contract term is clear, whether the work assignment is temporary, and whether there is a history of repeated contract signing in the past.
For example, in the case of Rao Renbi before Yibin Intermediate Court of Sichuan Province in 2016, it was held that the employee, a security guard, signed several contracts with the employer, a school, to complete certain tasks with clear starting and ending dates, and the nature of the guard’s work was mechanical and repetitive, which did not have the characteristics of the final completion of established objectives, so the assignment contracts were actually fixed-term contracts.2Rao Renbi and Changning County Huatan Town Junior Middle School Labor Dispute Appeal Case, Sichuan Yibin Intermediate People’s Court Civil Judgment (2016) Chuan 15 Min Zhong No.2157. Another example is that in the case of Zhang Erping in 2021, the Intermediate People’s Court of Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province held that the employee had been engaged in drilling work arranged by the employer for 12 years, the nature of his work was a long-term business of the employer, and that therefore the nature of assignment contracts were not made out.3Zhang Erping, Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of Labor Dispute and Personnel Dispute of Golmud Geological Engineering Survey Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Civil Judgment of the Intermediate People’s Court of Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province (2021) Qing 28 Min Zhong No.583.However, court decisions also recognize that stable annual seasonal work can constitute a legitimate assignment contract.4Labor Dispute between Chen Xiaoqing and Ruian Dahu Shoes Co., Ltd. Civil Judgment of Intermediate People’s Court of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province (2015) Zhe Wen Min Zhong Zi No.1572.There are even court decisions finding that the assignment contract after long-term work or multiple fixed-term contracts may be transformed into a permanent employment contract.5Lichuan Forest Public Security Bureau and Zhang Huiling’s Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of Labor Disputes, Civil Judgment of the Intermediate People’s Court of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province (2018) No.1420. In the case, the public security organ, the employer, signed a contract with the employees to complete a certain task for the purpose of “engaging in auxiliary work”. The court held that the task was not clear, so the employer could not terminate the employee’s contract, which essentially evolved into a permanent employment contract. Liao Xiaoyu v. Shenzhen Futian District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Labor Dispute Guangdong Provincial People‘s High Court Civil Ruling (2015) Yue Gao Fa Min Shen Zi No.489. A nurse signed several fixed-term contracts within nine years of joining the hospital, the last year of the contract is to complete a certain task as a term contract, the court determined that the last contract is a permanent contract. These reflect the undeveloped state of this area of law in China.
In order to safeguard the rights and interests of employees, the Employment Contract Law stipulates that assignment employment contracts must not include a probationary period. If both parties terminate the employment relationship after the completion of the work task, the employer shall also pay economic compensation to the employees according to their service years after 2008.6Article 22 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Employment Contract Law stipulates that if an employment contract with a term of completion of a certain task is terminated due to the completion of the task, the employer shall pay economic compensation to the worker in accordance with the provisions of Article 47 of the Employment Contract Law. The transitional clause of Article 97 of the Employment Contract Law. Yin Hequn appealed the labor dispute of Beijing Simplot Food Processing Co., Ltd. Civil Judgment of the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing (2016) Jing 02 Min Zhong No.6194. ’The court held that the employer had been signing assignment contracts with employees and had paid economic compensation after 2008, so there was no case of arrears of economic compensation for employees.‘
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- 1Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of the Labor Dispute between Xia Hanming, the Eighth Construction Branch of China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Co., Ltd., China Jiangsu International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group Co., Ltd., and the Foreign Engineering Branch of China Jiangsu International Economy and Technology Cooperation Group Ltd. Civil Judgment of Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court of Jiangsu Province (2020) Su 01 Min Zhong No.5.
- 2Rao Renbi and Changning County Huatan Town Junior Middle School Labor Dispute Appeal Case, Sichuan Yibin Intermediate People’s Court Civil Judgment (2016) Chuan 15 Min Zhong No.2157.
- 3Zhang Erping, Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of Labor Dispute and Personnel Dispute of Golmud Geological Engineering Survey Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Civil Judgment of the Intermediate People’s Court of Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province (2021) Qing 28 Min Zhong No.583.
- 4Labor Dispute between Chen Xiaoqing and Ruian Dahu Shoes Co., Ltd. Civil Judgment of Intermediate People’s Court of Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province (2015) Zhe Wen Min Zhong Zi No.1572.
- 5Lichuan Forest Public Security Bureau and Zhang Huiling’s Civil Judgment of the Second Instance of Labor Disputes, Civil Judgment of the Intermediate People’s Court of Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hubei Province (2018) No.1420. In the case, the public security organ, the employer, signed a contract with the employees to complete a certain task for the purpose of “engaging in auxiliary work”. The court held that the task was not clear, so the employer could not terminate the employee’s contract, which essentially evolved into a permanent employment contract. Liao Xiaoyu v. Shenzhen Futian District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Labor Dispute Guangdong Provincial People‘s High Court Civil Ruling (2015) Yue Gao Fa Min Shen Zi No.489. A nurse signed several fixed-term contracts within nine years of joining the hospital, the last year of the contract is to complete a certain task as a term contract, the court determined that the last contract is a permanent contract.
- 6Article 22 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Employment Contract Law stipulates that if an employment contract with a term of completion of a certain task is terminated due to the completion of the task, the employer shall pay economic compensation to the worker in accordance with the provisions of Article 47 of the Employment Contract Law. The transitional clause of Article 97 of the Employment Contract Law. Yin Hequn appealed the labor dispute of Beijing Simplot Food Processing Co., Ltd. Civil Judgment of the Second Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing (2016) Jing 02 Min Zhong No.6194. ’The court held that the employer had been signing assignment contracts with employees and had paid economic compensation after 2008, so there was no case of arrears of economic compensation for employees.‘