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.