China firm 'plans to punish unapproved staff pregnancies'

Chinese firm reportedly plans to ask its staff to seek approval before they get pregnant, provoking scorn in the state-run press and on social media.

Workers at a finance firm in Henan province were said to have been told they must apply for a "place on the birth-planning schedule" - and only if they had been employed for over a year.

Those who became pregnant without approval may be penalised.

The plan has been heavily criticised on social networks and in the media.

A commentator in the state-run China Youth Daily said the company regarded its workers as "tools on the production line" rather than human beings, the AFP news agency reports.

Employees are also unhappy, with one complaining that it was impossible to guarantee that a pregnancy would follow the schedule set by the company.

'Only a draft'

The firm, in Jiaozuo, in the central province of Henan, has recently hired a lot of young women and is said to have been concerned that they would all go on maternity leave at the same time.

A representative of the firm admitted that it had circulated the plan to staff, according to news portal The Paper, quoted by the AFP news agency.

However, the representative reportedly said the plan was only a draft that was intended to invite comment from employees.

The plan distributed by the firm suggested that only married female workers who had been with the company for more than a year would be allowed to conceive - and only within a specific period.

"The employee must strictly stick to the birth plan once it is approved," the statement said.

Employees who became pregnant in violation of the plan, and in a way that affected their work, risked a fine of 1,000 yuan (£102; $161), the statement said. They may also have to forfeit year-end bonuses and promotion or awards.

Communist China enforces strict family planning policies, famously restricting couples to having only one child.

Source BBC