Chinese workers will be able to sue their employers for illegal discrimination as of January 1 under the employment promotion law passed last month by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Discrimination on the following bases and against the following groups is already prohibited under the current law: race, ethnicity, sex and religion (since at least 1995); disabled persons (since 1991); hepatitis B carriers (since earlier this year); and HIV carriers, AIDS sufferers, and their family members (since 2006).