On January 22, 2017, Fujian Province released the Regulations on Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”), which will come into effect as of March 1, 2017. According to the Regulations, an employee who is the only child in his/her family, will be entitled to up to 10 days of nursing leave each year to care for his/her parent, who is over 60 years old and is in the hospital for treatment.
The salary and benefits of the employee during the nursing leave shall remain unchanged. As the first generation of parents with one child in China have successively entered their older years, it is expected that more local governments, or the central government, will release regulations on such forms of nursing leave to protect the rights and interests of the elderly.