Legal Review of the Retroactivity of No.14 Article of Labor Contract Law of PRC

the article 14 of Labor Contract Law gives rise to great controversy and social influence.The subject of the controversy is whether the provisions about the limited years have the retroactivity.In our opinion,according to the principle of non-retroactivity of law,in principle,the Labor Law has no retroactivity.But because the purpose of the Labor Contract Law is to protect the labor's benefit and the Labor Contract Law assimilates the relative provisions of the Labor Law,so the starting point of some limited years have the retroactivity.In this way,it not only abides by the principle of non-retroactivity of law,at the same time protects the legal rights of the labor.But it should have a transitional measure.Before the new law is in effect,the beneficial debt the enterprises owe to the labor can be paid by the government not by the enterprises.