Shanghai Places Onus on Employers to Grant Employees Elder Care Leave

As Shanghai’s aging population grows, new regulations require employers to provide paid elder care leave. In this Lawflash we review the scope, eligibility, and impact of these changes for both companies and employees working in Shanghai.

China has become an aging society with a declining population, making elderly care an increasingly critical issue in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. In these cities, many families have only one child who alone must support their parents while managing work and often their own family responsibilities. This demographic shift has created significant challenges for working professionals who must balance career demands with filial obligations.

To address this challenge, the Chinese government has introduced elder care leave across China as part of its broader strategy to support families caring for the elderly. Most recently, Shanghai, China’s leading economic hub, implemented its own elder care leave policy through an amendment to the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (Regulations).

DISCRETIONARY VS. STATUTORY ENTITLEMENT DEPENDS ON HOSPITALIZATION

The amendment, which took effect on November 1, 2025, addresses two scenarios: (1) when an elderly person falls ill and requires care (non-hospitalization) and (2) when an elderly person is hospitalized for medical treatment. For the former, Article 24 of the Regulations provides that “[e]mployers shall protect caregivers’ rights to family care leave in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. When elderly persons fall ill and require care from their caregivers, employers are encouraged to provide support by adjusting work arrangements.” The Regulations encourage employers to provide flexible work arrangements at their discretion.

The latter scenario establishes a statutory entitlement to paid leave. If the elder person is hospitalized, the Regulations grant caregivers five days in the aggregate on an annual basis of paid elder care leave. Caregivers who were born during the period of the one-child policy are entitled to a total of seven days in the aggregate on an annual basis of paid elder care leave. Wages during care leave shall be paid at the employee’s normal attendance rate.

IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES

Three weeks following the issuance of the amendment to the Regulations, on November 21, 2025, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau issued implementation guidelines for how employers should implement this leave (Shanghai Implementation Guidelines).

Scope of “Caregivers” and “Elderly Persons”

Unlike elder care leave policies in many other Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai does not limit the scope to parent-child relationships. Instead, it expands the relationship to “caregiver” and “care receiver,” broadening the traditional parent-child framework.

According to the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly and the Civil Code, “caregivers” refers to the elderly person’s children and others who have a legal obligation to provide support. Children include legitimate children (children born through marriage), “illegitimate” children (children born out of wedlock), adopted children, and stepchildren who were raised and educated by their stepparents. If an elderly person’s children are deceased or unable to provide support, grandchildren who have the financial capacity have an obligation to support their grandparents.

The Shanghai Implementation Guidelines define an “elderly person” as a Chinese citizen aged 60 or above, regardless of retirement status. Accordingly, if the person being cared for is under 60, the caregiver is not entitled to elder care leave.

There are no household registration (hukou) restrictions for applying for this leave. It applies to employees employed in Shanghai, regardless of where the elderly person being cared for is registered or hospitalized. This means Shanghai-based employees can take leave to care for elderly relatives who live in other provinces, countries, or jurisdictions or are hospitalized outside the city.

Given the large expatriate presence in Shanghai, employers may consider whether to expand their elder care leave policy to cover the elderly who are not PRC nationals.

Leave Period and Usage

The leave entitlement is allocated based on the calendar year and must be used within the calendar year. It may be taken all at once or in separate periods and is a separate entitlement from annual leave or public holidays or rest days (i.e., weekends or regularly scheduled nonworking days). Employees who do not exhaust the elder care leave entitlement are not entitled to any encashment; if unused, elder care leave is forfeited.

Employers will likely face practical challenges in determining what if any leave entitlement new joiners will have. Although employers may seek to verify a new joiner’s prior use of elder care leave with the former employer, enforcement may be challenging due to privacy concerns or the lack of cooperation from the former employer.

As a practical approach, employers may request employees to provide a declaration regarding the current year’s usage of this entitlement when they commence employment, similar to an employer’s request for the new joiner’s total years of service in the workplace. If discrepancies or misrepresentations are later discovered, employers would likely have a basis to impose disciplinary measures.

Eligibility Requirements for Hospitalization Leave

In Shanghai, the conditions to apply for elder care leave based on hospitalization include:

• The applicant and the person being cared for must have a legal caregiving relationship;
• The person being cared for must be at least 60 years old; and
• The elderly person must have completed formal admission procedures at a medical institution and be receiving continuous inpatient treatment.

Outpatient observation, emergency observation, and other situations that do not involve hospital admission do not qualify for elder care leave. Employers therefore need to establish detailed internal procedures regarding the materials required to prove the caregiving relationship (such as birth certificates, Certificate of Honor for Parents of an Only Child, household registration documents, adoption papers, or court judgments establishing support obligations, etc.) and the elderly person’s hospitalization status (such as hospital admission certificates or inpatient treatment records). The verification process should be similar to procedures for verifying an employee’s sick leave application, with clear requirements for acceptable documentation and timeframes for submission.

Application Process

The Shanghai Implementation Guidelines expressly provide that employees should submit applications following their employer’s established procedures to qualify for elder care leave. Employers therefore need to develop clear, detailed written procedures addressing documentation requirements, advance notice periods, application processing timeframes, and other relevant matters.

Under normal circumstances, advance applications are recommended to allow employers to plan for the employee’s absence and arrange necessary coverage. However, recognizing that medical emergencies are unpredictable, employers could allow verbal leave requests in urgent situations, with employees required to submit formal applications and supporting documentation within a reasonable period after returning to work. To prevent abuse while maintaining and respecting employee and third-party privacy concerns, employers should establish secure procedures for handling sensitive medical and family information in compliance with China’s data privacy-related laws and regulations.

Non-Hospitalization Support

When an elderly person for whom employees are caregivers falls ill (excluding hospitalization for medical treatment) and requires care, employers may provide support by modifying the employees’ work schedule and duties, if possible. The Shanghai Implementation Guidelines recommend that employers provide reasonable support in such situations by implementing flexible working hours, staggered commuting times, remote work arrangements, and other measures to help caregivers balance their work and caregiving responsibilities.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Employers operating in Shanghai should take proactive steps to ensure compliance while maintaining operational efficiency:

1. Update Employee Handbooks: Revise employee handbooks and leave policies to incorporate elder care leave provisions in accordance with the local regulation.      
2. Establish Verification Procedures: Develop clear internal procedures for verifying proof of eligibility for using such leave.
3. Train HR and Management: Provide training to HR personnel and department managers on the new leave entitlements, application procedures, and approval authority.
4. Onboarding Process Enhancement: Update onboarding documents to collect information about employees’ family status in compliance with China’s data privacy-related laws and regulations.
5. Scope Considerations: Consider whether to expand the scope of certain terms such as “elderly person” beyond Chinese citizens.
6. Abuse Prevention Measures: Implement reasonable safeguards to prevent abuse while respecting legitimate caregiving needs.