Abstract: China's current legal framework establishes a system of employment protection that provides strong safeguards for the employment rights of “older workers” while offering comparatively weaker protection for “post-retirement-age workers.” Moreover, existing policies inadequately promote employment for both groups. The implementation of a gradual postponement of the statutory retirement age has initiated reform and restructuring of both the retirement and employment systems. While maintaining the distinction between “older workers” and “post-retirement-age workers,” this decision highlights the substantial influence of retirement age on citizens' labor rights and suggests room for further legislative improvement. To address these issues, it is recommended to delink retirement age from labor rights, unify the categories of “older workers” and “post-retirement-age workers” under the broader term “elderly workers,” and focus legal reforms on this consolidated group. The labor law system should be optimized around the right to employment, while the retirement law system should be strengthened with the right to retirement at its core. Furthermore, an elderly-friendly policy framework should be established, covering areas such as job creation, skill enhancement, public employment services, and workplace environment protection, so as to enhance the legal safeguards for the employment rights of elderly workers.

Keywords: Elderly Workers, Employment Rights, Elderly-friendly, Legal Safeguards

摘要： 中国现行法律构建了大龄劳动者就业权利强保护、超龄劳动者就业权利弱保护的就业保护制度体系，并且对这两类劳动者的就业促进保障均不足。渐进式延迟法定退休年龄决定的实施开启了退休制度和就业制度的改革与优化重塑，该决定保留了大龄劳动者和超龄劳动者的区分，体现了退休年龄对公民劳动权的实质影响，存在立法改革空间。为此，应解除退休年龄与劳动权的关联，将大龄劳动者与超龄劳动者统一为高龄劳动者，并以高龄劳动者为主体，立足就业保护和就业促进，以就业权为核心优化劳动法律制度，以退休权为核心优化退休法律制度，在就业岗位开发、就业能力提升、公共就业服务、工作环境保护等方面构建适老化的政策体系，推进高龄劳动者就业权利法治保障。

关键词: 高龄劳动者, 就业权利, 适老化, 法治保障