China

Employment Practice

The Hong Kong office is part of the Greater China Group. Our lawyers frequently advise on Hong Kong, international and cross-border employment issues and they work closely with lawyers in other offices including Beijing, Shanghai, New York and London. White & Case's global network allows us to bring the Firm's experience and all of its worldwide resources to bear on our clients’ most demanding business and legal issues–promptly and cost-effectively without regard to location–in a manner tailored to our clients' needs.

Areas in which we have extensive experience include: 

• Codes of Conduct–We regularly advise clients on principles they should consider and include in their codes of conduct from a legal perspective, bearing in mind the diversity of histories, cultures, and social and political backgrounds of workforces in Hong Kong. 
• Data Privacy–Data privacy is an important and often confusing area of the law. Since employee information is almost always collected, stored and transferred in the administration of human resources programs, clients regularly seek our guidance on compliance with local data privacy laws.
• Employee Handbooks and Policies–Clear and comprehensive employment policy documents and employee handbooks and forms can help avoid future labour problems. We help clients draft and review these documents to tailor them to the needs of their businesses. 
• Employment Contracts, Restrictive Covenants, Hiring and Entitlements–We advise our clients on all aspects of employment contracts. This includes, in particular, the drafting of appropriate employment contracts on hiring a new employee, as well as related issues such as appropriate non-competition, non-solicitation, confidentiality and other clauses and the entitlements of the employee.
• Termination–Clients seek our legal advice on reductions in workforce, plant or office closings, and the termination of key executives and officers, including compliance with all applicable laws and ways to minimize the risk of lawsuits. We have also had extensive experience in designing and negotiating severance packages and separation agreements.
• Internal Audits and Compliance–We regularly assist clients with internal investigations where there are allegations of dishonesty, fraud, white collar crime, ethical breaches and other misconduct against their employees.