If the employer still has not signed a written labor contract one month after you start, from the second month you can claim double wages for up to 11 months; after a full year without a contract, it counts as an open-ended contract

If the employer has not signed a written contract one month after you start, from the second month it owes an extra month's wage each month, up to 11 extra months. After a full year without a contract, it counts as if you already signed a contract with no end date. Sign when the employer hands you the contract; if you deliberately stall and refuse to sign, you cannot claim this money.

Cost

No cost. Keep evidence that you worked: wage bank records, attendance, work badge, work-group chat logs. If the employer disputes it, apply for labor arbitration. Arbitration is free; cases close within 45 days after acceptance, extendable by at most 15 days. You can still go to court if you disagree; ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months, and you pay your own lawyer. The hard part is still working there while pressing for the money.

Benefit

The Labor Contract Law requires a written labor contract when an employment relationship is established. If it is not signed on the first day of work, it must be signed within one month from that day. If more than one month but less than one year passes without a contract, the employer must pay you double wages each month. The implementing regulations fix the start and end: from the day after one full month of work through the day before the contract is later signed. If a full year passes without a contract, double wages run through the day before the year is complete—at most 11 months. From the day the year is complete, both sides are treated as having signed an open-ended labor contract, and the employer must sign one at once. An open-ended contract is one with no agreed end date. A Supreme People's Court judicial interpretation effective September 2025 provides that double wages are calculated by the month; periods under one month are calculated by actual working days. If the employer proves the lack of a contract was due to force majeure, or to your intentional or grossly negligent refusal to sign, it need not pay. Within the first month of work, if the employer notifies you in writing to sign and you do not, the employer may terminate the employment relationship in writing. In that case it owes no economic compensation, only wages for the days you worked. Courts will not support a further claim for double wages covering the period already treated as an open-ended contract (nationwide)

Notes

How long you have to claim the extra wage portion has no nationwide rule from the Supreme People's Court. A 2023 draft for comments had a limitation rule that the 2025 formal interpretation did not keep. Beijing's practice is that the extra portion uses the 1-year arbitration limitation, counted day by day backward from the day you make the claim. Local methods differ, but the longer you wait, the fewer months you can recover. So apply for arbitration while still employed or soon after leaving. General arbitration limitation rules: Section 8, Item 19 (rights have deadlines). If a make-up contract is backdated to the first day of work, Beijing generally no longer supports double wages, unless you can prove the make-up signing was not voluntary. From the employer's side: Section 12, Item 16 (sign a written contract within the first month of hiring).

Sources · 5

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2. 最高人民法院 (2025). 关于审理劳动争议案件适用法律问题的解释（二）（法释〔2025〕12 号，第六、七、九条）. court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/472691.html
3. 最高人民法院 (2023). 关于审理劳动争议案件适用法律问题的解释（二）（征求意见稿，第四条）. court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/420002.html
4. 北京市高级人民法院、北京市劳动人事争议仲裁委员会 (2024). 关于审理劳动争议案件解答（一）（京高法发〔2024〕534 号，第 41 问、第 42 问）. beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/fygfxwj/202405/t202405…
5. 全国人大常委会 (2007). 劳动争议调解仲裁法（第二十七、四十三、五十三条）. rsj.ankang.gov.cn/Content-2150407.html（安康市人力资源和社会保障局转载）；国务院 (2006). 诉讼费用交纳办法（国务院令第 481 号，第六、十三条）. gov.cn/ziliao/flfg/2006-12/29/content_483682.htm