Employment in Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific employment law bulletin
Horizon-scanning - 2025
Welcome to the latest edition of our Asia-Pacific employment law bulletin which scans the horizon and assesses what we can expect for the remainder of 2025
The employment law landscape in Asia continues to evolve, with 2024 seeing significant shifts and 2025 promising more of the same. The driving forces? A changing workforce, local government developments, geopolitical rumblings, and socio-economic pressure. Change is the only constant, with some countries overhauling their systems and others fine-tuning existing laws.
A welcome focus on employee mental health is emerging, alongside the contentious issue of raising retirement ages. For instance, China has already hiked its pension age by three years, while Taiwan is offering employers and employees the option to agree to postpone retirement.
Retrenchment remains a flashpoint. Singapore's trade unions are raising their voices, alleging non-compliance with retrenchment guidelines. Meanwhile, a Malaysian tribunal recently emphasised that retrenchment selections must be genuine, and not based on ulterior motives.
The gig economy continues to dominate headlines. The classification and rights of gig workers are being fiercely debated in legislatures and courtrooms across the region. Australia has a new framework for protecting the interests of certain gig workers (employee-like workers), which allows them to enter into collective agreements. Hong Kong, on the other hand, has seen the first court case on the classification of gig workers, where the District Court applied the ‘overall impression’ test and considered various indicia of employment. A New Zealand court ruled recently that workers of a digital labour platform were employees. Philippines is still considering two bills, which have been pending since 2023, designed to strengthen platform workers’ rights.
In the Year of the Snake, we can see that these themes are set to continue.
For this bulletin, we have once again collaborated with our StrongerTogether colleagues to identify key employment law developments in the Asia-Pacific region.
Our team
Kathleen Healy Partner
London
Stephanie Chiu Counsel
Hong Kong
Holly Insley Partner
London
Sarah Rohmann Counsel
Düsseldorf
Fan Li Senior Associate
Shanghai
Shirley Lam Associate
Hong Kong
River He Associate
Shanghai
Rachel Harris Associate
London
