China Labour Arbitration can become messy when dates, forms and evidence are scattered. Caira helps organise the record. Ask about China law, draft letters or forms, and upload files for review.
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Check the dismissal date, deadline, contract, warnings, pay records and messages first.
For RMB 10 million of salary, bonus or severance, a careful chronology can change the negotiation.
Preserve lawful evidence, but avoid taking confidential files you should not access.
Use Caira to build a timeline and draft a response checklist.
A China labour arbitration application is not just a story about unfair treatment. It is a structured file: who is the employee, who is the employer, what labour relationship existed, what claims are being made, how the numbers are calculated, and what evidence supports each point. Official labour dispute sources support arbitration as a key route for many employment disputes, but the details of filing venue, forms, copies, and submission channel can vary locally.
Treat this article as a national preparation checklist, then confirm the local labour arbitration commission requirements before filing.
Start with the employer legal name
The respondent is usually the legal employer, not always the store manager, team leader, brand name, school campus, platform account, or recruiter. Check the labour contract, company seal, offer letter, payslips, social-insurance records, tax app records, work permit documents, bank transfer description, business licence photo, and internal HR system. If several entities appear, make a table showing which entity signed, paid, supervised, insured, and terminated you.
Useful Chinese labels are 用人单位, 劳动关系证明, 仲裁申请书, 申请人, 被申请人, 请求事项, 事实和理由, 证据目录, and 工资计算. These are the headings that make a messy employment file easier to review.
Write claim requests before writing the story
Many applications become weak because the worker writes a long chronology but does not state a clear request. Claim requests may involve unpaid wages, overtime, commission, compensation, double wages for no written contract where supported by facts and law, illegal termination compensation, annual leave pay, reimbursement, or confirmation of labour relationship. The exact claim depends on the contract, evidence, local practice, and legal information and document review.
For each request, write the amount and formula. For example: unpaid salary from [date] to [date], monthly salary [amount], days unpaid [number], requested amount [amount]. If you cannot calculate a claim yet, mark the missing document rather than guessing. A calculation table is often more persuasive than emotional wording.
Build an evidence list
Your evidence list should connect documents to claims. For labour relationship proof, use the labour contract, offer letter, work badge, attendance records, work emails, chat groups, duty roster, payslips, bank records, social-insurance records, tax app entries, work product, and supervisor instructions. For wage claims, use salary agreements, payslips, bank deposits, commission rules, attendance, overtime approval, and messages about unpaid amounts. For termination claims, use the notice, HR messages, meeting minutes, handover instructions, access removal, and final-payment documents.
Number the evidence. Do not upload two hundred screenshots with no order. Export full chat threads where possible, then select key screenshots with date, sender, and context visible. If an audio recording exists, check local evidentiary rules before relying on it and prepare a transcript if appropriate.
Draft the facts briefly
The facts section should answer six questions: when you joined, what role you had, who employed you, what wage was agreed, what happened, and why each claim follows. Avoid insults, speculation, and unrelated workplace grievances. If discrimination, injury, harassment, or protected status is involved, get advice because the dispute may require additional routes or careful wording.
A short structure is: employment start and role; contract and salary terms; key events; termination or unpaid-wage event; attempts to resolve; claim requests. Keep dates exact. If you only know an approximate date, say so and explain how you know.
Check venue and local submission requirements
National MOHRSS and law sources do not replace the local filing checklist. Before submission, check which labour arbitration commission has jurisdiction, whether online filing is available, whether paper copies are required, how many copies of the application and evidence list are needed, whether identity documents must be copied, and whether company registration information should be attached. Also check whether mediation is offered before or alongside arbitration.
If you are filing in a city where you worked remotely, were assigned through a branch, or were paid by an affiliate, venue can be tricky. Write down the work location, contract location, employer registration place, and actual management location.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes include naming the wrong employer, forgetting the employer address, mixing several legal claims into one unclear request, calculating wages without showing the formula, relying only on WeChat screenshots, omitting proof of labour relationship, missing the termination notice, and waiting too long to organise the file. Another common mistake is assuming every city uses the same online form or document-copy rule.
Where Unwildered fits
Upload the labour contract, offer letter, employer identity evidence, payslips, bank records, attendance, messages, termination notice, and draft claim requests. Unwildered can help create a chronology, claim table, evidence index, and missing-documents checklist before you check local filing instructions.
Sources
MOHRSS labour contract materials
NPC law database: labour dispute mediation and arbitration law
local HRSS or labour arbitration commission
court or arbitration guidance
local service platform instructions
This article is general information, not legal, financial, medical or tax advice.
