Other BriefingsHow to Legally Hire Over-Age Workers in China: A Practical Guide (Part I)
China’s July 1, 2026 rules on over-age workers establish clear employer obligations, but knowing the law is only half the job. This guide addresses the practical questions HR teams and in-house counsel face when onboarding, managing, and offboarding workers past the statutory retirement age.
Effective July 1, 2026, China’s Interim Provisions on the Protection of Basic Rights and Interests of Over-Age Workers introduce a new legal framework governing employers who hire workers beyond the statutory retirement age. In our previous article, we outlined the key compliance developments employers need to understand, including the scope of application, core obligations, and practical risks. This Q&A guide is designed to help HR teams and in-house counsel translate the new rules into workable processes.
Getting the basics right before you hire
Q: Does the July 1 framework apply to all over-age workers, or only certain categories?
The Interim Provisions apply whenever your organization hires someone who has exceeded the statutory retirement age and that person works under your day-to-day management in exchange for pay.
The legal label you put on the relationship, such as service contract, consultancy, labor contract, is irrelevant. If you direct their work and they get paid for it, the framework applies. This includes both workers who are already drawing a pension and those who are not yet receiving retirement benefits.
Q: How do I determine the applicable statutory retirement age for a given worker?
Under the gradual reform that took effect January 1, 2025, retirement ages are being phased up over 15 years, depending on the worker’s original retirement tier. Male employees and women in the original 55-year tier gain one month every four months, moving toward 63 and 58, respectively. Women in the 50-year tier gain one month every two months, moving toward 55.
A worker’s HR file should record their original retirement tier, and you can calculate their current applicable retirement age from the phase-in schedule. When in doubt, your payroll or HR information system should be updated to reflect the reform timetable. This is a good opportunity to audit those records if you have not already done so.
Q: Can we simply refuse to hire anyone past the statutory retirement age to avoid the compliance burden?
Legally, you can.
There is no obligation to hire over-age workers. However, blanket exclusion may not be commercially realistic in skill-short roles or specialist functions, and the new framework is deliberately designed to make compliant hiring straightforward.
The compliance burden is real but manageable with the right documentation and HR processes in place. For many FIEs, retaining experienced employees through the extended retirement window, particularly in technical, managerial, or client-facing roles, will outweigh the administrative cost of compliance.
The employment agreement: What to sign and what to include
Q: What type of agreement should we use, a labor contract or a service agreement?
The Interim Provisions require a written employment agreement (用工协议), a specific instrument distinct from both a standard labor contract (劳动合同) and a civil service agreement (劳务合同).
Think of it as a purpose-built hybrid: it imposes labor-style protections in the four core categories (remuneration, rest and leave, safety, and work injury insurance) while acknowledging that the relationship sits outside the standard labor contract framework.
Using a generic service agreement is insufficient and creates legal exposure; using a full labor contract is technically correct in substance but may create unintended obligations depending on how your local authority interprets it.
A bespoke employment agreement drafted to the Interim Provisions specifications is the right instrument.
Q: What mandatory clauses must the agreement contain?
The Interim Provisions specify 10 categories of content that the written agreement must address: (1) the agreement term; (2) job content and description; (3) work location; (4) working hours and rest arrangements; (5) leave entitlements; (6) labor remuneration — including the specific wage amount or calculation method, payment cycle, payment dates, and payment form; (7) social insurance arrangements; (8) labor protection measures; (9) working conditions; and (10) occupational hazard prevention.
Every one of these must be addressed explicitly — the agreement cannot simply incorporate these terms by reference to a handbook or policy without spelling them out.
Q: How long can the agreement term be, and can it be renewed?
The Interim Provisions do not prescribe a maximum or minimum term. Agreements may be fixed-term or task-based (i.e., tied to completion of a specific project). Renewal by mutual agreement is permissible.
The agreement is terminated automatically on expiry of the term, on completion of the agreed task, on occurrence of any agreed termination condition, or by mutual agreement to dissolve it early.
There is no statutory severance obligation triggered by non-renewal, which is a material difference from standard labor contracts, where failure to renew after two consecutive terms can create open-ended contract obligations. This gives employers meaningful flexibility in structuring the engagement.
Q: Can we modify the agreement once it is signed?
Yes, but only by mutual written agreement. Unilateral variation by the employer is not permitted. This mirrors the position under the Labor Contract Law for standard labor contracts.
In practice, this means that any change to wages, role, location, or hours needs to be documented in a written amendment signed by both parties, rather than simply communicated by email or posted in an internal system.
Q: Do we need to go through the standard labor contract filing or registration procedures?
Employment agreements under the Interim Provisions are not labor contracts, so the labor contract filing requirements under the Labor Contract Law do not automatically apply in the same way.
However, local human resources authorities may issue supplementary guidance on registration or record-keeping for over-age worker agreements. You should check with your local HR and social security bureau for any local implementation rules, particularly in cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou that tend to issue detailed implementing guidance ahead of national effective dates.
HR advisory teams with local bureau relationships can be particularly useful here for staying ahead of local-level interpretation.
Remuneration, hours, and leave
Q: Is there a minimum wage requirement, and does it differ from the standard minimum wage?
No separate minimum wage tier exists for over-age workers. The standard local minimum wage applies: if the worker provides normal labor, you must pay at least the applicable local minimum wage.
To be noted, minimum wage is a floor, not a target. In practice, most over-age hires in professional or technical roles will be compensated well above it. Wages must be paid in RMB, at least monthly, and directly to the worker. Payment in goods, vouchers, or through intermediaries is prohibited.
Q: Can we arrange part-time or flexible working hours?
Yes. Nothing in the Interim Provisions requires full-time arrangements, and flexible or part-time structures are entirely permissible, provided the agreement clearly specifies the agreed working hours. This can be commercially attractive for both sides. An experienced former executive or specialist who wants to remain engaged but not on a full-time schedule, and an employer that needs specific expertise without full headcount cost. If the arrangement is genuinely part-time, ensure the remuneration clause reflects the actual hours and calculation method to avoid minimum wage compliance questions.
Q: Are we required to pay overtime if we need them to work longer hours?
The default position is that overtime should generally not be arranged for over-age workers. This is a deliberate policy signal about the physical demands on older employees.
Where overtime is genuinely necessary, the standard Labor Law rules apply. Employers must consult the trade union and the workers, observe the statutory overtime caps (generally no more than three hours per day and 36 hours per month), and pay the applicable overtime premiums: 150 percent for weekday overtime, 200 percent for rest days where compensatory leave is not provided, and 300 percent for statutory holidays. The same obligation and the same rate structure apply as for standard labor contract employees.
As the questions above illustrate, the new framework is not conceptually complex—but it is detail-heavy in execution. Employers that treat over-age hiring as a light-touch extension of consultancy or dispatch models will quickly run into gaps in agreement structure, minimum standards, and documentation. In contrast, those that implement a clear, repeatable process can manage the risks effectively while unlocking the value of experienced talent.
With the contractual and operational foundations now in place, Part II of this Guide turns to the areas where most compliance exposure actually arises in practice, including social insurance handling, workplace safety obligations, and how to exit these engagements cleanly and defensibly. Subscribe to us to stay informed.
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