PurposeThis study aims to examine the adequate application of rights and protections granted to employees under labor laws and regulations to foreign employees working in China.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed applicable laws, regulations and related literature on the employment of foreigners in China and employed quantitative and qualitative methods to scrutinize the features of labor disputes involving foreign employees, to assess claims of inconsistencies. A group of judges and labor arbitrators were also interviewed.FindingsThe inconsistencies between Chinese immigration and labor laws, and between applicable laws and court enforcement, result in a considerable gap in employment protection for foreign employees. They have grown over the last two decades, in a changing legal environment of labor protection and labor market for foreigners.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focused on documented foreign employees' labor litigations from 2017 to 2020 in people's courts in China's five most economically developed regions. Future studies could cover a wider geographic territory and labor disputes of undocumented foreign employees to provide an even more comprehensive picture of the challenges and potential solutions.Practical implicationsThe inconsistency between immigration and labor law regarding employment protection for documented foreign employees requires legal clarification and regulation to ensure equal employment protection of both Chinese and foreign employees.Originality/valueThere are limited studies using empirical data from different regions in China to document and understand the gap between the statutory labor protections and the labor protection granted to foreign employees in law as well as in court practice.