Direct answer

Dispatch is lawful only in a narrow post-type and headcount box; equal pay still applies.

The dispatch agency must be licensed and is the employer for the labor contract, social insurance and most statutory employer duties. The host company directs the work and must keep dispatch workers to temporary (generally under six months), auxiliary or substitute roles, and within the 10% cap. Equal pay for equal work applies. If the arrangement is dispatch in substance but labelled outsourcing, tribunals can still treat it as dispatch or as de facto employment with the host. Foreigners have extra permit constraints.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Who is named as employer on the labor contract and SI?

If the host pays and manages as an employee, labels will not save you.

Employer
02

Is the post temporary, auxiliary, or substitute?

Core, standing production roles are the usual unlawful-dispatch pattern.

Post
03

Are dispatched staff within 10% of the host headcount?

Count the host’s employees, not the group worldwide.

Cap
04

Is the agency licensed?

A trading company ‘seconding’ staff is not a dispatch licence.

Licence

Working rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Fake outsourcing
Does the host interview, discipline, set hours and replace individuals at will?
Substance-over-form is how hosts become the employer.
Core post
Has the same ‘temporary’ seat been filled for years?
Temporary means a six-month-style need, not a permanent line job.
Pay gap
Do dispatched workers earn less than host employees in the same role?
Equal-pay claims sit on top of the cap problem.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Agency licence and contractDispatch licence, dispatch agreement and each worker’s labor contract.
02Post descriptionWhy the role is temporary, auxiliary or substitute.
03Headcount snapshotHost employees versus dispatched workers on the same date.
04Pay comparisonHost vs dispatched compensation for the same work.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can we use dispatch to avoid open-term conversion?

That is a classic red flag. If the host is the real employer, conversion and severance can attach to the host anyway.

Is outsourcing the safe alternative?

Only if it is true contracting for a result, with the vendor’s own supervision and employees. Body-shopping labelled as outsourcing is still dispatch risk.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)
PRC Labor Contract Law (gov.cn)
Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
Supreme People’s Court