According to the provisions of Article 25 of the Labor Contract Law, the employer can only stipulate the liquidated damages of the workers in the following two cases:
1. According to Article 22 of the Labor Contract Law, the employer has provided professional and technical training (not pre-job vocational training) to the workers, paid the training fee, and may stipulate the service period in the labor contract or training agreement. Workers who violate the service period shall pay liquidated damages to the employer. However, the amount of liquidated damages shall not exceed the training expenses allocated during the non-performance period.
2. According to the provisions of Articles 23 and 24 of the Labor Contract Law, the employing unit can agree on confidentiality matters and non-competition clauses in the labor contract or non-competition agreement with senior managers, senior technicians and other personnel with confidentiality obligations, and stipulate that after the labor contract is dissolved or terminated, the employee will be given monthly economic compensation during the non-competition period. If the laborer violates the non-competition agreement, he shall pay liquidated damages to the employer in accordance with the agreement.
Only the above-mentioned 1 happens when the employee resigns and terminates the contract. However, according to Article 26 of the Regulations for the Implementation of the Labor Contract Law, even if the employer pays the training fee, provides professional technical training to the workers and stipulates the service period, if the workers terminate the contract according to Article 38 of the Labor Contract Law, it is not a violation of the service period agreement, and there is no need to pay liquidated damages.