Recently, the State Council decided to extend the 2020 Spring Festival holiday until 2 February 2020. At the same time, some local governments, such in Shanghai, announced that companies must delay resuming their work till 9 of Feb 2020. Many people now wonder: what’s the differences between extending the Spring Festival holidays and postponing going back to work?
The following will help:
On 28 January 2020, at the press conference held by the local government, officials from the Shanghai Social Security Bureau explained that postponing going back to work was necessary for the control of the virus outbreak and that these days were “days off”. Employees who don’t work during these days, must be paid by their employers in accordance with the terms stipulated in their labor contracts. For employees who have to work for any reason， the company shall arrange other times for rest in lieu or, shall pay overtime wages in accordance with related provisions. In another words, the company should pay two times of normal wages as overtime payment. While the Spring Festival holiday is a statutory holiday, a three times of normal wages has to be paid as overtime payment, if employees have to work during this holiday.
At the same time, the official recommended that companies should try and enable employees to work from home. If employees are working from home during these days as required by their companies, such work is considered to be “working overtime”. Companies shall therefore grant additional days of rest, or pay overtime wages in line with the law.
For more provisions about overtime payment, you may check our previous post:
Overtime Payment and Statutory Holiday
Useful link:
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China
