The Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly released a circular on protecting equal employment rights of recovered COVID-19 patients on Aug 16, reiterating the prohibition of discrimination against such workers.  

According to the circular, if an employer discriminates against workers who have recovered from COVID-19, or illegally inquires about the results of novel coronavirus nucleic acid testing without authorization, workers may bring a lawsuit to the people's courts according to the law on the grounds of violating the right to equal employment and personal information rights. For cases with clear facts, courts should handle them with efficiency while ensuring justice.

When a worker requests a people's court to investigate and collect evidence, the people's court shall actively carry out investigation if the request meets the statutory conditions. During the trial of a case, the court needs to give full consideration of the litigants’ ability to provide evidence, appropriately allocate the burden of proof according to the principles of good faith and fairness, so that the legitimate rights and interests of workers can be properly protected.

The circular emphasized that employers and human resource service agencies are not allowed to turn down workers who have recovered from COVID-19 on the grounds that they have tested positive for the virus in nucleic acid testing, and are not allowed to publish discriminatory recruitment information. They are not allowed to query nucleic acid test results except for pandemic prevention and control reasons, which otherwise would be in violation of the personal information protection law and other relevant provisions.

The circular also requires human resource and social security departments to strengthen supervision and rectification over the recruitment activities of employers and human resource service agencies.

These departments and courts at all levels are required to establish a reporting system on employment discrimination and information statistics, and improve related policies and judicial interpretations to ensure a full implementation of the circular.