Regional discrimination still exists, and domestic service is a severely affected area.
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
Recently, a screenshot of a domestic service job posting has been circulating on the internet. This job posting was published by a staff member of a domestic service agency in Beijing on their Moments. The job requires a female assistant aged 35 to 58, and the job duties include accompanying a 50-year-old woman for shopping, physical therapy, traveling, doing housework, and cooking meals.But those from Northeast China and Henan are not eligible.
As soon as the news came out, it sparked controversy among netizens, who pointed out that such recruitment already constitutes regional employment discrimination.
The staff of this company stated, "We just consolidate recruitment information, much of it is copied and pasted. It's not that we have a prejudice against people from Henan or the Northeast; some employers prefer people from the South, some clients prefer people from the North. We are just the platform; we are not responsible for job introductions. The contact information above are the phone numbers of the employers or recruitment companies themselves."
In fact, it's not only this one domestic service company that has this situation. On the official account of another domestic service company, it can also be found that in the recruitment information they publish for homeowners or local domestic service companies in Beijing, Shanghai, and other places, multiple job postings mention that candidates from Henan or the Northeast are not eligible. Additionally, it has been found that some recruitment postings explicitly state that they do not want workers from Hubei or Hebei.
Labor Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 3 Workers have the right to equal employment and the freedom to choose their occupationThe right to receive labor remuneration, the right to rest and vacation, the right to obtain labor safety and health protection, the right to receive vocational skills training, the right to enjoy social insurance and welfare, the right to request the handling of labor disputes, and other labor rights stipulated by law.
Employment Promotion Law
Article 3 Workers enjoy the right to equal employment and to freely choose their occupation in accordance with the law.
Workers' employment shall not be discriminated against based on differences in nationality, race, gender, religion, or belief.
[2] Article 26Employers hiring personnel and vocational intermediary agencies engaged in vocational intermediary activities shall provide workers with equal employment opportunities and fair employment conditions, and shall not engage in employment discrimination.
[1] The author's perspective
In this case, although the intermediary company claims 'we are just posting recruitment information on behalf of the client,' specifying in the job postings that people from Henan or Northeast China are not eligible is clearly regional discrimination and has already violated relevant legal provisions.
Although the Labour Law and the Employment Promotion Law do not explicitly state that employment discrimination based on regional differences is prohibited, many people assume that 'if the law does not explicitly forbid it, it is allowed,' but they overlook Article 3 of the Labour Law, which states that 'workers enjoy the right to equal employment and to choose their occupation.' Although this is a general legal provision, it must not be violated. The 'equal employment' mentioned here actually includes employment discrimination. Even though the law does not provide specific regulations against 'regional discrimination,' the general provisions are equally applicable.
Looking again at Article 3 of the "Employment Promotion Law," it also mentions 'equal employment rights.' More importantly, paragraph 2 of this article lists some factors that must not be discriminated against. Since it is impossible to include all possibilities, the text uses the word 'etc.,' which of course also includes regional factors.
Unfortunately, although this kind of regional discrimination is illegal, it is widespread in reality. It is not only a 'hard-hit area' in domestic service; in fact, as early as 2018, such incidents also occurred in large companies like iQIYI. At that time, after interviewing a second-year Master's student from Central University of Finance and Economics, an iQIYI HR sent an email to colleagues coordinating the interview work, in which the sentence 'In the future, try to filter out people from Henan first' directly caused a huge online uproar. Although iQIYI later apologized and stated that the HR was dismissed, it shows that regional discrimination has already become a very common problem.
Although in recent years many individuals have chosen to use legal means to defend their rights, I believe that the fundamental reason that needs to be addressed is that the labor and employment market is not sufficiently regulated. At this point, public authority intervention is needed to correct and standardize the market, as this falls within the jurisdiction of labor administrative departments. In addition to achieving practical purposes by refining laws and regulations, legal assistance can also be provided to individuals who have already encountered employment discrimination. Moreover, legal education for enterprises is also very necessary. Although some companies do not explicitly state these discriminatory recruitment requirements, implicit discrimination may still exist, so helping companies develop the correct mindset is also fundamental to solving the problem. Regional discrimination may seem harmless, but if left unregulated and allowed to run rampant, it will ultimately harm not only the economic market but also national unity.
