Migrant workers in Beijing owed thousands in unpaid wages will get a legal helping hand to recover what they are owed.

A ruling on Monday by the Beijing Higher People's Court says migrant workers can file cases against employers and will not have to pay legal costs.

They also no longer need to prove their financial difficulty to get the aid.

It has taken effect immediately in all courts in the municipality.

Other costs can be delayed, reduced or paid by the employer if the migrant workers win the case.

"The review will make access easier for migrant workers to file suit, therefore gaining a bigger stake in winning their salaries back," said Wang Ming, deputy director of the Beijing High People's Court.

"It is very practical to poor migrant workers," said Li Qingjun, a lawyer of the Beijing Chenzhou Law Firm, who handles dozens of migrant workers' salary disputes every year.

The court used to demand workers provide a document from their employers saying they could not afford the fees, Li said.

"But if you are suing your boss, how can you get approval from him?" he said.

The workers also used to have to pay to freeze the employer's assets. That also has been eliminated.

The court is also authorized to order that migrant workers' salaries be paid before the trial is finished if the judgment is clear.

Another provision is that the court will decide the day the case is filed whether to accept it and will resolve it within 15 working days.

The review comes at a time when the number of cases is on the rise.

Of more than 120 million migrant workers in cities, the number of disputes is the highest in the construction industry, where companies usually do not sign labour contracts with migrants and payments rarely reach workers on time.

"For migrant workers, timing is of great importance," Wang said. "Most of them expect their salaries so they can go back to their hometowns and do not have to wait for a long time in the city."

Sometimes, construction workers who do not get their cases resolved on time organize sit-ins or visit the court in groups, disrupting the normal order of the courts.

The ruling is part of a growing trend in which many local courts are providing more legal weapons for rural labourers to protect their rights.

Courts in Guangdong Province, which has the largest number of migrant workers, has echoed Beijing's ruling to give free legal service and quicker access to migrant workers.

Some courts in Guangdong have applied to have a special labour court to deal with those disputes.

In Henan Province, the largest labour exporter in the country, the provincial government has designed a sample contract to help migrant workers protect their legal rights.

(China Daily July 26, 2005)