The Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) released five typical cases involving the intentional refusal to pay wage arrears on Jan 22 as part of their efforts to safeguard workers' legitimate rights and interests across the country. 

With increasing attention from central authorities on addressing the problem of wage arrears, the SPC and the MOHRSS have strengthened law enforcement and judicial policies and measures, while intensifying collaborative efforts to ensure that wages especially for migrant workers, are paid in full and on time.  

From 2020 to 2024, courts nationwide concluded over 6,200 criminal cases concerning the refusal to pay wages, with effective judgments rendered against more than 6,200 individuals. 

The newly released cases highlight efforts to strengthen governance related to wage arrears by upholding the policy of tempering justice with mercy to protect workers’ rights and interests to a maximum extent, and promoting substantive dispute resolution through high-quality adjudication.

In the construction industry, where malicious wage arrears cases are frequent and often involve large numbers of workers and significant amounts of unpaid wages, resolving these issues requires strong cooperation between human resources and social security departments and judicial authorities. 

For instance, in one case, timely investigation and evidence collection by relevant human resources and social security departments laid a solid foundation for judicial work. Simultaneously, the court handling the case fulfilled its duties effectively, leveraging the deterrent and educational functions of the criminal law to compel the offenders to fulfill their payment obligations actively, thereby achieving a "win-win" outcome for safeguarding workers' rights and interests and local social stability.

In another case, the court imposed severe penalties on the defendant company and the person in charge for failing to fulfill payment obligations before the first-instance adjudication, effectively punishing and deterring the offenders. In a further case where the wage arrears were relatively minor and was settled before public prosecution, the offender was exempted from criminal punishment, showing leniency to those who cooperated with judicial authorities.

In a case involving a dispute between a tourism company and an individual worker, the court actively facilitated full payment of overdue wages by the defendant company. While safeguarding the worker's legitimate rights, the court also applied a reprieve to the responsible person to promote business recovery.

Look ahead, the SPC and the MOHRSS vow to continue to enhance coordination, optimize the business environment, further strengthen governance synergy against wage arrears to maintain social stability and effectively serve high-quality development.