China Probation Termination Labor 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 probation clause in a China employment contract does not give the employer a blank exit button. The practical question is narrower: did the contract set a lawful probation period, did the employer rely on a lawful termination ground, and can it prove the employee failed the stated recruitment or job conditions during probation? If the answer is unclear, the employee should move quickly to preserve documents before access to email, HR systems, and internal chat logs disappears.
Chinese labor law treats probation as part of the labor relationship, not a trial with no rights. The Labor Contract Law rules on probation length, pay, and termination sit alongside the ordinary rules on unilateral termination. During probation, the employer may terminate where the worker is proved not to satisfy the recruitment conditions. That word proved matters. A vague message saying performance was not a fit is weaker than a file showing the job requirements, evaluation standards, actual work records, warnings, and the reason those records match a statutory ground.
Start With The Contract, Not The Termination Letter
First, check whether the probation period itself was valid. Compare the probation clause with the contract term, the number of probation periods used, and whether a new probation was imposed after a transfer or renewal. Also check salary during probation, because a pay dispute can become part of the wider leverage and evidence picture even if the immediate concern is dismissal. Keep the signed Chinese contract, any English version, offer letter, employee handbook, KPI rules, job description, onboarding forms, and messages explaining how probation would be assessed.
Second, separate three things that employers often blur together: non-qualification during probation, serious breach of company rules, and negotiated resignation. If HR asks you to sign a resignation, mutual termination, or settlement before explaining the termination reason, pause. A signed resignation can change the dispute from employer dismissal to employee departure, which may make later claims harder. Do not sign documents you cannot read or documents with blank dates, unpaid salary figures, or a reason you dispute.
What Good Evidence Usually Looks Like
A strong employee file does not only say that the employer was unfair. It organizes the facts. Build a timeline from offer to dismissal: recruitment condition, probation start date, evaluations, praise or complaints, targets, warnings, illness or leave, meeting notes, termination notice, and final payment. For each item, save the original file where possible. Screenshots help, but original emails, stamped notices, attendance records, payslips, and signed policies are better.
Contract documents: offer, labor contract, probation clause, job title, salary, and work location.
Performance documents: targets, dashboards, written feedback, sales reports, deliverables, and approvals.
Employer rules: handbook, disciplinary policy, probation evaluation process, and proof you received them.
Termination documents: notice, reason, meeting invitation, severance calculation, final payslip, and social insurance records.
Foreign employee documents: work permit, residence permit, employer cancellation notices, and immigration correspondence.
For expatriate employees, employment and immigration administration can collide. A labor claim does not automatically solve work-permit or residence-permit problems. If the employer controls cancellation documents or refuses to issue departure paperwork, get immigration advice promptly and keep the labor dispute file separate from status-compliance steps.
Before Labor Arbitration
Most China employment disputes must go through labor arbitration before court litigation. The arbitration request should be fact-specific: illegal termination compensation, unpaid wages, unpaid probation salary difference, unused annual leave, bonus or commission, certificate of termination, or other remedies supported by documents. Avoid inflating claims you cannot evidence. A focused claim with a clean chronology is easier for a Caira or arbitrator to assess than a broad complaint about unfair treatment.
Do not rely on oral promises that HR will fix everything later. If you need clarification, ask in writing and keep the tone neutral. You are creating a record, not venting. A short bilingual note can be enough.
Simplified Chinese Response Template
Use this only as a document-preservation note, not as a legal filing:
主题：关于试用期解除劳动合同的书面说明和材料确认
本人已收到公司关于解除劳动合同的通知。请公司书面说明解除依据、具体事实、试用期考核标准、考核记录及工资结算明细。本人保留就劳动关系、工资、经济补偿或赔偿等事项依法申请劳动仲裁的权利。请在三个工作日内提供上述材料。
For editorial review, the key caution is simple: probation termination can be lawful, but it is not lawful merely because the word probation appears in the contract. The outcome depends on the contract term, recruitment conditions, employer rules, proof, and procedural record. The employee's first job is to stop evidence from evaporating.
Sources
MOHRSS labour contract materials
NPC law database: labour dispute mediation and arbitration law
local HRSS or labour arbitration commission
This article is general information, not legal, financial, medical or tax advice.
