The man was sentenced to 6 years in prison for extorting 9 million yuan from the company for his wife's dismissal

The man was dissatisfied with the dismissal of his wife from the company and the low amount of economic compensation, and after obtaining his wife's consent, he blackmailed the company with a whistleblower and extorted 9 million yuan from the company. Beiqing-Beijing headline reporter learned on September 24 that the court sentenced the man to 6 years in prison and fined 60,000 yuan for extortion, and sentenced his wife to 3 years in prison, suspended for 3 years, and fined 30,000 yuan for extortion.

In August 2020, defendant Guo was dissatisfied with the dismissal of his wife Liu from a property company and the amount of economic compensation was low, and after obtaining the consent of defendant Liu, he extorted RMB9 million from the company by threatening to report it. On September 3, 2020, a real estate company transferred RMB300,000 to defendant Liu at the Fangzhuang branch of a bank in Fengtai District, Beijing. On September 8, 2020, Guo and Liu surrendered to a police station of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau with the stolen money, and after arriving at the case, they all truthfully confessed the facts of the crime.

On May 13, 2021, after trial, the court of first instance found that the defendants Guo and Liu had extorted other people's property for the purpose of illegal possession, and the amount was huge, and their acts had constituted the crime of extortion and should be punished. Defendants Guo X and Liu X for attempted extortion were considered at the time of sentencing and given heavier punishments. In view of the fact that defendant Guo X took the initiative to come to the case with stolen money and truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, which constituted voluntary surrender and obtained forgiveness from the victim unit, he was given a lenient punishment. Defendant Liu X, who voluntarily came to the case with stolen money and truthfully confessed the facts of the crime, constituted voluntary surrender, obtained forgiveness from the victim's unit, and was an accessory, and was given a lenient punishment and a suspended sentence. Therefore, defendant Guo was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment and fined RMB60,000; defendant Liu X was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment, suspended for 3 years, and fined RMB30,000; and RMB300,000 was returned to a real estate company of the victim's unit under the bank card of defendant Liu X, who was frozen in the case.

After the verdict was pronounced, Guo was not satisfied and appealed on the grounds that the original sentence was too heavy. After trial, the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court ruled to reject the appeal in accordance with law and upheld the original judgment.

The judge of the Second Intermediate People's Court said that labor disputes refer to disputes between employers and employees over rights and obligations in labor relations. According to the provisions of the current labor law, when a labor dispute occurs, the parties may take the following four ways to resolve it:

The first is consultation, which refers to the joint consultation between the employer and the employee.

The second is to apply for mediation, which means that the employer or employee applies for mediation to the labor dispute mediation committee established by the employer.

The third is to apply for arbitration. If mediation by the unit fails, and one of the parties requests arbitration, it may apply to the Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission for arbitration. Neither negotiation nor the application for mediation is a necessary measure. One of the parties may directly apply for arbitration to the Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission, which is headed by a representative of the labor administrative department. The party requesting arbitration shall submit a written application to the Labor Dispute Arbitration Commission within 60 days from the date of occurrence of the labor dispute. An arbitral award shall normally be rendered within 60 days of receipt of the application for arbitration.

The fourth is to file a lawsuit. If a party to a labor dispute is dissatisfied with the arbitral award, it may file a lawsuit with the people's court within 15 days from the date of receipt of the arbitral award. If one party does not sue and fails to perform the arbitral award within the statutory time limit, the other party may apply for enforcement. Labor dispute cases generally require labor arbitration to enter the litigation procedure. In some special circumstances, there is no need for labor arbitration, and a lawsuit can be filed directly, for example, if an employee files a lawsuit with the people's court in accordance with article 85 of the Labor Contract Law and requests the employer to pay double the compensation, the people's court shall accept it.

In this case, after Liu was dismissed by the original employer, he was dissatisfied with the reasons for dismissal and the amount of economic compensation for dismissal, and could have adopted several methods stipulated in the Labor Law to correctly and legally solve it, but his husband and her husband threatened to report the employer, demanded a huge amount of money from the original employer, and was finally convicted and sentenced for committing the crime of extortion. This kind of irrational behavior not only did not solve the problem of dismissal and low economic compensation that they originally hoped to seek, but the husband and wife were also admitted to detention centers and prisons. Workers must take this as a warning and correctly and legally safeguard their rights and interests.

Text/Beiqing - Beijing headline reporter Ye Wan

Source: Beijing Toutiao Client