The revised Law prohibits discrimination against women regarding salaries and welfare benefits during marriage and pregnancy, promotion rating, labour contracts, and retirement. The amendment also calls on companies to set up mechanisms to effectively prevent sexual harassment against women and promptly handle such complaints. In addition, it prohibits employers from asking female job applicants about their marital or parental situations and rejecting them based on their answers, as well as pregnancy tests as an item in physical examinations for employment.
Finally, the Law states that female employees with jobs are protected from being fired or having their salaries slashed if they get married, become pregnant, or take maternity leave.
The Punishment Benchmark Table identifies five violations of the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law and divides them into General and Severe categories.
Depending on the "general" or "severe" classification of the violations, the fine amount in the Punishment Benchmark Table varies from RMB10,000 to RMB50,000 (compared with the 2022 values from RMB3,000 to RMB10,000).
The determination of the fines will also depend on the number of employees impacted by the violations, whether corrections were made within the required time limit and the number of violations within 12 months.
The increase in punishments confirms the importance of the topic and the government's increased attention to the implementation and monitoring of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, which can contribute to achieving gender equality in employment.