企业并购中的员工裁减问题 / Redundancy in M&A Deals

企业并购包括股权并购和资产收购，在两种不同的并购模式下，员工关系的处理方式是不同的。
M&A deals include equity merger and assets acquisition. The employee relations under different M&A deals shall be dealt with as appropriate.
股权并购 Equity Merger
股权并购并不影响员工劳动合同的履行（劳动合同法第33条规定，用人单位变更名称、法定代表人、主要负责人或者投资人等事项，不影响劳动合同的履行），所以企业不要想当然地以为股东/控制权变更就可以解除员工。
Equity merger will not affect the performance of labor contracts (according to Article 33 of the Labor Contract Law, an employer's change of its name, legal representative, key person-in-charge, or investor shall not affect the fulfillment of labor contracts), and thus, the company should not take it for granted that it could terminate an employee simply on the ground of change of shareholders or controlling rights.
但是股权并购（控制权变更）的情况下，往往会牵涉到新东家（股权购买方）调整组织结构，裁减其旗下子公司的员工，以达到节省成本、调整战略结构等商业目的。在这种情况下，可以考虑适用的法定解除理由通常为劳动合同法第40条第（3）项规定的“客观情况发生重大变化”。但实务中，该解除理由的举证存在较大困难和不确定性，若企业不谨慎处理，很容易被认定为违法解除。如果该公司符合劳动合同法第41条规定的经济性裁员的条件，则须履行经济性裁员的程序，但经济性裁员的实体性要求和程序性要求颇为严格（在股权并购情形下，企业一般都较难满足）。即使企业按照法律规定在人力资源和劳动保障部门完成了备案，也并不代表在劳动争议发生时（被单方解除的员工通常都会提起劳动仲裁和诉讼），劳动仲裁委员会和法院必然会认定企业的经济性裁员符合法律规定。无论如何，单方解除员工的路径都是不好走的，这时企业应及时咨询专业律师的意见，将法律风险最小化。
However, in case of equity merger (change of controlling rights), it often times happens that equity purchaser may launch a restructuring and let go of the employees of its subsidiary so as to reduce costs, adjust the strategic structures and achieve other commercial purposes. Under this circumstance, the statutory termination ground of “major change in objective situations” asprovided by Article 40(3) of the Labor Contract Law may be considered to terminate the redundant employees. That said, it contains difficulties and uncertainties to justify this ground, and the termination may be held illegal if the company applies this ground in arough way. If the company conforms to the collective layoff requirements under Article 41 of the Labor Contract Law, it shall comply with the collective layoff procedures, but the substantial and procedural requirements for collective layoff are relatively strict (in the case of equity merger, such requirements are usually hard to be met). Even if the company has filed its layoff plan with the labor bureau in accordance with law, it does not necessarily mean that the arbitration tribunal and court would accept the collective layoff launched by the company in case of any labor disputes (an employee who is unilaterally terminated will very likely initiate labor arbitration and litigation). In any event, it is not an easy job for a company to justify a unilateral termination. You may need to consult with a professional lawyer in this regard in a timely manner to minimize the legal risk.
资产收购 Assets Acquisition
资产收购情形下，被收购方以客观情况发生重大变化为由单方解除员工较为常见，但企业经常遇到的问题是如何满足“先协商变更劳动合同”的前置程序问题。实务中，企业的资产被收购之后，往往没有新的岗位提供给员工以完成变更劳动合同的协商程序，而将员工转移到新的用人单位（如资产收购方）又可能被认为不符合变更劳动合同程序的原意——即在不变更用人单位的情况下，变更劳动合同的内容。我们会根据企业的实际情况，帮助企业制定切实可行的方案，以尽量降低法律风险。
In case of assets acquisition, it is quite common that the acquiree may terminate employees by relying on the ground of major change in objective situations, but it will always face a problem on how to first negotiate with the affected employee to amend his or her labor contract before terminating him or her. In practice, after the assets are acquired, there may be no alternative positions available in order for the company to fulfill the negotiation requirement, while transferring the employee to a new company (e.g. the acquirer) may not be consistent with the purpose of the negotiation process of changing the labor contract, i.e. changing the content of the labor contract with the employer remained unchanged. We will assist the companies in designing practical and feasible plans as appropriate, so as to mitigate the legal risk to the extent possible.
这里我们再着重讨论资产收购情形下，被收购方因此决定解散而导致的员工裁减的问题。
Here, we will discuss the redundancy issues in case that the acquiree decides to early dissolve and liquidate after the assets acquisition.
根据劳动合同法第44条规定，公司决定提前解散的，劳动合同自动终止。但对于合同终止的时间并未做明确规定。实践中，劳动合同终止时间分两种情形确定：
According to Article 44 of the Labor Contract Law, if an employer decides to early dissolve and liquidate its business, the labor contract will be terminated automatically, but the date of termination is not clearly stipulated thereon. In practice, the date of termination will be determined according to the following two circumstances:
■ 对于外资企业而言，在公司的清算决定向商务委员会备案后，获得备案回执的时间即可视为劳动合同终止的时间（原先的商务委审批程序现已改为备案程序，除了少数被列进黑名单的企业之外）；
Equity merger will not affect the performance of labor contracts (accordingto Article 33 of the Labor Contract Law, an employer's change of its name, legal representative, key person-in-charge, or investor shall not affect the fulfillment of labor contracts), and thus, the company should not take it for granted that it could terminate an employee simply on the ground of change of shareholders or controlling rights.
■ 对于内资企业而言，由于其清算决定无须向商务委员会备案，则其股东会决议作出之日，可视为劳动合同终止之日。
For domestic companies, as its liquidation resolution is not required to be filed with the commerce committee, the date when the shareholders make the resolution would be deemed as the date of termination.
也有部分地区的法院认为，在公司自行决定解散的情形下，应以公司办理终止劳动合同手续之日（即送达终止劳动合同通知书之日）为劳动关系终止的时点，如浙江省。
That being said, some courts hold the view that in case of company liquidation, the termination date shall be determined based on the date when the termination procedure of labor contract has been completed (i.e. when the notice on termination of employment contract has been served to the employee), e.g. Zhejiang Province.
虽然公司提前解散是劳动合同终止的法定事由，但在实施人员裁减时，企业仍不可掉以轻心。企业应提早咨询律师专业法律意见，事先策划好裁员和补偿方案，谨慎处理员工的意见，及时了解员工的心理，避免发生集体事件。
Although early liquidation is a statutory termination ground, the company should still be very careful in the process of redundancy. It would be better for you to consult with a lawyer on professional legal opinions on an early stage, prepare the layoff and compensation plan in advance, carefully deal with the employees' comments and understand their thoughts in a timely manner, in order to avoid any collective events.