《企业破产法》修改的重点难点问题——以破产企业职工劳动债权保护为视角
Key and Difficult Issues in the Amendment of the “Enterprise Bankruptcy Law”—From the Perspective of Protecting Employees’ Labor Creditor Rights in Bankrupt Enterprises

2007年6月1日实施的《中华人民共和国企业破产法》为市场主体有序良性退市与转型、实现高效的资源配置以及经济的转型升级提供了重要的法制保障。但该法及配套法规中关于企业职工债权保护的规定却不完善，其中关于劳动债权保护的相关范围、运行程序、救济途径规定较为笼统模糊，加之劳动者在破产程序中的参与度较低，导致实践中对于职工劳动债权不能得到较好的保护。2023年5月30日，全国人大常委会发布2023年度立法工作计划，《企业破产法》修改被纳入预备审议项目，由有关方面抓紧开展调研和起草工作，视情况安排审议。这意味着破产法将在我国市场经济体系中扮演更重要的作用，有助于进一步建立市场化、法治化的退出机制和高效、公正的破产法体系。本文旨在《企业破产法》即将修订之际以破产企业职工劳动债权保护这一修改的重点难点问题为视角，剖析劳动债权保护的理论基础及现行企业职工劳动债权保护现状中存在的缺陷与不足，对我国的劳动债权保护机制提出优化建议。
The “Enterprise Bankruptcy Law of the People’s Republic of China”, which came into effect on June 1, 2007, provides an important legal guarantee for the orderly and benign exit and transformation of market entities, efficient resource allocation, and the economic transformation and upgrading. However, the provisions in this law and its accompanying regulations regarding the protection of employees’ creditor rights are not perfect. Specifically, the regulations concerning the protection of labor creditor rights are rather vague and general in terms of scope, operational procedures, and relief methods. Furthermore, the low level of worker participation in bankruptcy procedures has led to inadequate protection of employees’ labor creditor rights in practice. On May 30, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress released the legislative work plan for 2023, which includes the revision of the “Enterprise Bankruptcy Law” as a preparatory review item. Relevant parties are urged to expedite research and drafting work and arrange for review as appropriate. This indicates that the bankruptcy law will play an even more significant role in China’s market economy system, helping to further establish a market-oriented, law-based exit mechanism and an efficient and fair bankruptcy legal system. This article aims to analyze the theoretical basis for the protection of labor creditor rights and the existing defects and shortcomings in the current protection of employees’ labor creditor rights in bankrupt enterprises. It is written on the eve of the impending revision of the “Enterprise Bankruptcy Law” and focuses on the key and difficult issue of protecting employees’ labor creditor rights in bankruptcy, proposing optimization suggestions for China’s labor creditor rights protection mechanism.