Chinesische Gerichte entscheiden, dass Unternehmen Arbeitnehmer nicht entlassen dürfen, nur um sie durch KI zu ersetzen
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2026-04-30/chinese-courts-rule-companies-cannot-fire-workers-simply-to-replace-them-with-ai-102439602.html
38 Kommentare
Chinese companies cannot legally fire employees simply to replace them with cost-saving artificial intelligence, courts in the country have ruled, setting a significant precedent for labor rights as automation sweeps the tech sector.
A technology company’s effort to reassign and drastically cut the pay of an employee because their job could be automated by AI , which ultimately led to the worker’s dismissal was deemed an illegal termination by courts in Hangzhou.
America is so far behind. Good on China.
The problem and why this won’t work in this country is business runs the government. Corruption is out of control and our government is in on the take. If by some miracle we ever enact sensible legislation like this for AI companies will just figure out some way to lie or circumvent it and our government will never hold companies who violate these laws accountable. We’re pretty much fucked because our government is too corrupt and can’t be bothered to actually protect its citizens from this happening. In china business is actually afraid of government an accountability is actually a thing
We’ll never see this in the US unfortunately
But have the Chinese considered how this policy might affect investors?
/s
America would never.
Nor would we take any action against the blatant offshoring of white collar and tech jobs to India.
It really is shocking how backward thinking the US is. Our government truly hates us.
Thanks to the paywall, I can’t see much, but I have worked with a couple of CEOs closely. If I learnt one or two, here’s how it will go: „We are struggling financially, we have to fire #N employees“.
Sadly not here in the USA
I bet those Chinese companies advancements in tech accelerate after this. Fully staffed departments with AI to use will be able to advance research and development much faster than a skeleton crew that relies on AI to make up for all the co-workers they lost.
USA: Perfectly legal here! Yay corporate overlords!
Oh look China actually protecting workers’ ability to work and earn a living. America waiting for Billionaires to replace everyone and pad their stock portfolio.
This seems easily circumvented
alright boys who wants to start a mandarin club?
the actual courtcase is a bit more limited than it seems [https://leglobal.law/2026/02/02/china-replacing-employees-with-ai-is-an-operational-decision-not-force-majeure-or-material-change-in-circumstances/](https://leglobal.law/2026/02/02/china-replacing-employees-with-ai-is-an-operational-decision-not-force-majeure-or-material-change-in-circumstances/)
>Article 40 of PRC Employment Contract Law permits termination where objective circumstances materially change, rendering the contract unperformable and no amendment agreement is reached. Mr. Liu, a data collector, had his role replaced due to the company’s AI-driven business transformation. **The dispute centred on whether this constituted a “material change in objective circumstances.**” The arbitration commission and both trial courts uniformly concluded that adopting AI technology was an autonomous business decision, lacking the irresistibility and unforeseeability required under the law for material change in objective circumstances. Therefore, the company’s direct termination of Mr. Liu’s contract was deemed wrongful.
On 26 December 2024, the company terminated Mr. Liu’s employment contract on the grounds that “materials changes in the objective circumstances” upon which the employment contract was based have rendered it impossible to continue performing the contract, and both parties have failed to reach an agreement on amending the contract’s content. Mr. Liu subsequently applied for arbitration.
The Beijing Arbitration Commission held that the company’s adoption of AI technology **constituted a normal business decision** and proactive innovation, rather than an unforeseeable “objective circumstance” justifying termination of employment.
it’s mostly just saying that the company can’t say that ai is akin to some natural disaster and avoid giving out payouts when firing someone. the chinese companies can still fire people but need to do the „wrongful termination“ and have a payout.
The world has really changed… Better in China apparently and far worse in America.
The ruling says that a company cannot justify firing an employee solely on the basis that AI can replace their role, because adopting AI is considered a business choice, not a legally recognized ground for unilateral termination under the Labor Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China.
This isn’t the win media outlets will portray it as.
Sounds very vague gray area and easy to get around.
Court rulings like this sound good until companies just restructure whole departments instead of firing individuals. most labor courts treat those cases completely differently and thats where it falls apart.
Humans first.
How about firing workers to consolidate under a single person, then have the guy use AI to take off the load?
They’ll just have to find a more creative reason, such as a „merger“ or a „redundancy“ in the position, or „lower than expected performance“
I’m curious how this will play out in the long term. If a robot can do your job completely, maybe even better than you, do I have to keep you on staff doing something else? Can I start a new position for the robot if it isn’t replacing anyone else’s work? If I start a new company can I use robots since they aren’t replacing anyone? What happens when the first company goes under because it can’t compete in speed and price with the new robot enhanced company?
I could see this as a way to show the transition where existing companies aren’t allowed to automate but new companies are, but this would just result in the investors of the old companies investing in new companies that do the exact same thing.
Ah, China. Super cool to see them surpass the US in human rights.
You don’t have to fire them, just not pay them, go look up how many Chinese workers are the victims of unpaid wages on YouTube. Demonic country full of lies.
As if any company is going to identify that as the reason.
China is on the way to become the worlds greatest nation. Feel about it whatever, but it’s the truth.
They have all the dystopian shit already in place but a whole different approach to how it should be used and managed.
You heard it here, folks. Communist China is more progressive than the United States.
Why are Chinese courts over to workers than American courts?
China now has better labor protections than the us. Great.
How un-American of China.
Holy shit. The US the what the US has been warning me about
If only the western world could put these kind of protections in place.
I want this law in the UK, the EU and the rest of the EEA!
Or I’d put forward a law that allows AI replacements but every employee replaced at a time when AI is used more heavily by a company (i.e. replaced by AI), that company has to pay them 1 year of pay if they worked there less than 6 months; 2 years of pay if they worked there more than 6 months and an additional 6 months of pay for additional every year over 2 years that worker had worked there; plus an additional commercial AI tax bill that contributes to the welfare system for jobseekers.
China: Beacon to the world………..
China also makes them all go through security assessments.
Not a fan of the CCP, but they are quick on the regulations.
they also are requiring all AI use be labeled and banning of non-consent AI likenesses, even of the deceased.
Rare china W
Dictatorship of the Proletariat goes brrr!