English version translated by XU Xinyuan (Wayne)

On Nov.30, 2023, the Labor and Compliance Department of Shanghai LANDING Law Offices held the seminar on the topic of “Building a Healthy Enterprise, Caring for Employees’ Minds -- the Protection of Mental Health of Employees”. Over 30 enterprise leaders and HR professionals attended the event.

Ms. LI Yueqing, the senior partner of Shanghai LANDING Law Offices, acted as the host of the seminar.

Ms. SHI Jingwei, an intern associate of LANDING and lecturer of the School of Economic Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, pointed out that with the rat race in the workplace, an exhausting, usually competitive routine, intensifying, the mental health of workers is under unprecedented threat, which not only seriously influences their work efficiency, but also is prone to trigger mental illness. In this regard, Ms. Shi, taking into account the relevant legal provisions and judicial practice in China, as well as the advanced foreign experiences of the European Union, Japan and Quebec, Canada, proposes that China can take the model with the center of the employer’s obligation, and adopt the process strategy of “identification-prevention-control” to realize the protection of workers’ mental health.

Mr. XU Shoujun, the senior partner of LANDING, the director of Labor and Compliance Department and the guest commentator of the seminar, approved of Ms. Shi’s point of view on the protection of workers’ mental health from the academic perspective and raise expectations for the future relevant legal system construction in China.

Ms. BAI Lijuan, the senior partner of LANDING, delivered a lecture on the topic of “the illness and harm of mental problems”. Starting from the legal recognition of mental illness, and based on the combination of China’s current legal provisions and judicial practice, Ms. Bai focuses on the issues of medical treatment period and sick leave investigation of mental illness, as well as the recognition of work-related injuries of mental illness.

Ms. LIU Jiaxin, the senior partner of LANDING, shared her point of view on the topic of “the in-house management on mental illness for enterprises”. With the introduction of the general status quo, and based on the combination of specific cases and judicial opinions, the participants conducted discussions on specific cases and scenarios from multiple perspectives, such as emergency treatment, problem analysis, legal management and relevant mechanisms. Ms. Liu then expanded detailed analysis on how to manage the employees suffering from mental illness for enterprises.

In this event, we discussed about the importance and methods of the protection of the mental health of workers in the enterprises. The key to the success of an enterprise is to maintain a healthy and positive team. The mental health of workers is not only related to the well-being of individuals, but also to the sound development of the whole enterprise. We hope that we can make efforts to the sustainable development of enterprises and the happiness of employees.