China's first lawsuit since the country's new labor contract came into effect this year was filed on Wednesday against an employer in southwestern China's Kunming who failed to provide a written labor contract.

A woman surnamed Ma, a trainer at Beingmate, a baby food manufacturer, took the company to court, claiming double salary as compensation for her missing labor contract, local newspaper Du-Shi-Shi-Bao reported.

Ma discovered that her employer hadn't paid the social insurance she claimed for maternity expenses after she returned from maternity leave at the end of last year. After a series of negotiations, Beingmate finally provided a contract for the period from January 20, 2005 to December 31, 2007, but was still unwilling to sign a new one for 2008.

Beingmate further declined to pay her social insurance and refused to pay her salary for the first two months. Managers at the company threatened Ma by suggesting that she quit the job if she could not handle the workload.

Since the local provincial labor dispute arbitration committee didn't accept the case and she yielded no results from her negotiations with the company, Ma filed a lawsuit against Beingmate, claiming over 10,000 yuan, or more than 1,300 US dollars, in compensation.

According to the new labor contract law, all employers must sign labor contracts with their employees. Companies found to be in violation of the law may be forced to pay double salary to their employees.

The Ma/Beingmate case demonstrates that employees have become more aware of their rights to safeguard their interests by legal means.

(CRI March 15, 2008)