Right to paid leave needs to be protected proactively

A female Chinese worker sews clothes at a garment factory in Huaibei city, east China's Anhui province, on January 20, 2015.[Photo/IC]

According to the Department of Human Resources and Social Security in Sichuan province, Southwest China, less than 5 percent of employees involved in payment disputes have sought to independently defend their right to paid leave in recent years. Beijing News says it is the responsibility of the relevant local authorities to protect the rights of workers whether or not there are any complaints of their rights being violated.

Despite the lack of enforcement personnel to protect the rights of employees, local authorities should not just fulfill their responsibilities when employees report they have not been granted the rights to which they are entitled.

Quite the opposite, they should increase their investigations into possible violations of workers' rights, when there have been no reports for several years.

All departments concerned should improve their efforts in this regard. Investigations into whether employers have strictly followed the relevant regulations covering paid leave for workers should be based on written evidence provided to them, as well as spot checks. They should also disclose the results of their investigations for public supervision.

That being said, the absence of any reports by workers' claiming they have been denied their right to paid leave should be seen as an indication of latent violations of their rights. The local labor relations authorities must take measures to nip the enterprises' misdeeds in the bud and better protect all employees' legal rights.