What is the applicable law for labor disputes?

For foreigners who provide labor services in China, common foreign-related labor relationships can be divided into the following two types: (1) Foreigners are directly employed by Chinese enterprises; 2) The foreigner is employed by a foreign enterprise and then assigned to a subsidiary or branch in China. For the first situation, the foreign employee's labor relationship is in China, and Chinese law applies to labor disputes regardless of the foreigner's nationality. For the second scenario, the foreign employee's labor relationship is at the foreign enterprise's headquarters and the enterprise is not required to enter into a labor contract with the employee, but in practice, the Chinese subsidiary is required to submit a pro forma labor contract when applying for an employment permit for these employees, thus giving the foreign employee a basis to sue in China. In addition, foreigners may be subject to Chinese labor law as a result of their work permits.