Epidemic Related Legal Practice Series | "Shared Employment" - Solving the Urgent Need for Enterprises to Resume Work and Production

In March 2022, the outbreak of the epidemic in Shanghai caused most enterprises to stop production. As the epidemic was gradually controlled, Shanghai has successively released a number of "white lists" of enterprises that resumed work and production. Meanwhile, Shanghai and various districts have also issued guidelines for industrial and commercial enterprises to resume work and production. However, enterprises that resumed work and production are limited to five categories: urban operation support, epidemic prevention material support, important function support, continuous production operations, and supporting infrastructure support. In a short period of time, employees of enterprises that have resumed work may not be able to return to work normally due to epidemic prevention and control measures, resulting in short-term job shortages in enterprises that have resumed work, while a large number of labor forces in enterprises that have not yet resumed work are idle. Under this short-term employment conflict, if the idle labor force of enterprises that have not yet resumed work is transferred to those that have not yet resumed work, on the one hand, it can help the enterprises that have resumed work to resume production smoothly; On the other hand, enterprises that have not resumed work can continue to enjoy employment subsidy support, reducing the pressure on wage payment. The author of this article analyzes the legal relationship under the "shared employment" model in order to provide guidance for enterprises to share employment.