context: The amendment to ‘Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law’ (under consultation) aims to ban female workplace discrimination based on marriage or family status in recruitment or promotion. Current public interest litigation legislation does not include women’s rights. Following high profile cases, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and All-China Women's Federation jointly called for women’s rights inclusion in a 2020 notice.
As a reaction to the 2020 notice, public procurator’s offices in Zhejiang and Hebei provinces started accepting workplace discrimination PIL (public interest litigation) cases on a trial basis, which was welcomed by experts, reports Sina Finance.
To allow for maximum success of PIL cases, public prosecutor’s offices with their plentiful resources should file class actions, instead of employees submitting individual cases, according to Lü Xiaoquan 吕孝权 Beijing Qianqian Law Firm executive director. In general, the topic of who is allowed to file for PIL needs clarification, says Lü, as the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law amendment only cites ‘the legislator, public prosecutor’s offices and related groups’ as possible plaintiffs, omitting any clear definition of the latter. As current law stands, women’s associations are only allowed to expose, publicly criticise and consult with employers to rectify discriminatory incidents, but not request PIL.
It also remains unclear whether potential women’s rights PIL can only be brought forward against state agencies, as proposed in the 2020 notice. As gender discrimination is more rampant in enterprises, argues Zhou Wei 周伟 Sichuan University Law School professor, they should be included in the scope of PIL subjects.
While PIL can only combat discrimination retrospectively, strengthening preventive measures is also brought forward by experts. Zhou calls for compulsory shared parental leave and state-funding for maternity leave. Lü adds that the trifling fine of C¥50,000 needs to be raised drastically to ensure discriminatory acts are unprofitable.