A total of 7,674 people were sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment or detention due to wage defaults from May 2011 to this September, with 116 of them receiving a sentence of more than three years in prison, according to data released by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC).

SPC released the data at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Oct 30.

Zhou Jiahai, deputy director of SPC’s Research Office, said at the press conference that the crime of refusing to pay laborers wages is a typical type of crime that affects people’s livelihood. It is of a gross nature and gravely harmful.

The country's top legislature passed the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law in May, 2011, stipulating malicious wage default is a crime.

In January 2013, the SPC issued an interpretation to specify the standards for conviction and sentencing of such crime, according to Zhou.

He pointed out that entities or individuals who are not qualified to be employers could also be convicted. “For instance, those illegal labor contractors can also be convicted if they illegally employ laborers and refuse to pay wages,” he said.

The country will launch a nationwide winter campaign to eradicate wage defaults starting on Nov 15, 2019 and lasting through the Chinese New Year in late January, 2020.