[Editor's note] On January 5, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council presided over the first executive meeting of the State Council in the new year, which studied the policy measures to develop the silver economy and improve the well-being of the elderly, reviewed the guidance on further optimizing government services, improving administrative efficiency, and promoting "doing one thing efficiently", and listened to the report on ensuring the payment of migrant workers' wages. The meeting pointed out that before the Spring Festival is the peak period for migrant workers' wage settlement. It is necessary to do a good job in ensuring the payment of migrant workers' wages with heart and affection, consolidate responsibilities at all levels, increase the intensity of work, and resolutely crack down on malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law. It is necessary to improve and improve the long-term mechanism for the management of wage arrears, strengthen normalized monitoring, evaluation, inspection and supervision, and promote the implementation of various systems and policies to ensure the payment of migrant workers' wages.
Many migrant workers are very excited, they say: from "cracking down on malicious wage demand" to "cracking down on malicious wage arrears", the difference of one word shows that the ruling concept has truly returned to "people-centered"!
In order to strengthen the understanding of the Xi, we hereby forward the article "Punishing the Crime of Malicious Wage Arrears in Accordance with the Law and Continuously Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Workers' Wages and Remuneration" by the person in charge of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the release of typical cases of punishing the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration in accordance with the law.
[Procuratorate Daily reporter: Shi Zhaokun Xi reporter: Gao Ke]
Punish crimes of malicious wage arrears in accordance with law
Continue to safeguard the rights and interests of workers' wages and remuneration
-- The person in charge of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate answered reporters' questions on the release of typical cases of punishing the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration in accordance with law
Labor remuneration is the hard-earned and hard-earned money of laborers, especially migrant workers, and obtaining the rights and interests of labor remuneration is the most basic and core right of survival and development of laborers. Recently, the Central Economic Work Conference once again emphasized the requirement to "ensure that migrant workers' wages are paid on time and in full". In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee, to ensure the implementation of the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference, to effectively safeguard the rights and interests of workers' wages and remuneration, and to allow the majority of workers to return to their hometowns for the Chinese New Year in time and in full, the procuratorial organs have continuously increased the intensity of case handling, actively carried out procuratorial duties, and severely punished malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law, so as to ensure that workers receive their wages in full and in a timely manner to the greatest extent, and to protect the most basic bottom line of people's livelihood.
The crime of refusal to pay labor remuneration is a typical "small crime, big people's livelihood", and punishing malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law, effectively resolving and eradicating malicious wage arrears, is related to people's livelihood and interests, social stability, and family harmony. Procurator General Ying Yong stressed that safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers in accordance with the law is an inevitable requirement for practicing the supremacy of the people, and it is the political and statutory responsibility that the procuratorial organs must assume. In order to actively implement the Party Central Committee's decision-making and deployment on "eradicating wage arrears", the Supreme People's Procuratorate has continuously improved and improved the coordination mechanism for safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of workers, and for five consecutive years has reported on the handling of cases of procuratorial organs punishing the crime of refusal to pay labor remuneration in accordance with the law, released typical cases to explain the law with cases, and strengthened publicity and education on the rule of law. Recently, the person in charge of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate answered reporters' questions on five typical cases of procuratorial organs punishing the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration in accordance with the law.
Q: We have noticed that the issuance of typical cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration at the end of the year and the beginning of the year has become a prescribed action of the procuratorate, which has received widespread attention from the majority of workers, and it has been five consecutive years since 2019.
Answer: In order to implement the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee on the work of eradicating wage arrears for migrant workers, safeguard the most basic and core rights and interests of laborers for survival and development, and continue to consolidate the achievements of eradicating wage arrears, since the State Council continued to carry out the winter special action to eradicate wage arrears, the procuratorial organs have been actively participating in it, undertaking the functions of punishing crimes in accordance with the law and supervising the law. The criminalization of the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration reflects the strong determination of the state to curb the phenomenon of malicious wage arrears, maintain social stability, and protect the people's livelihood and interests. Since the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration was criminalized, procuratorial organs at all levels across the country have based themselves on judicial case-handling, and have cracked down on malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law by intervening in advance, guiding the collection of evidence, and lawfully performing case-handling duties such as reviewing arrests, reviewing prosecutions, and supervising case filing, so as to give play to the punitive and deterrent effect of criminal punishment. In terms of the number of cases handled, the number of people accepted by the procuratorate for review and prosecution of the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration has increased from 393 in 2012 (the first year after the act was criminalized) to 4,015 in 2019. However, with the intensification of crackdown and punishment, the transformation of the social and economic structure, the promotion of the rule of law in place, the enhancement of workers' awareness of rights protection, and the improvement of corporate legal awareness and corporate compliance construction, the number of cases handled has gradually stabilized and decreased since its peak in 2019. From January to November this year, procuratorial organs across the country accepted, reviewed, and prosecuted 2,554 cases and 3,032 people for the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration, a decrease of 22.3% and 18.1% respectively compared with the same period in 2019, and the rapid growth of wage arrears has been reversed. The main purpose of criminalizing the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration is not to punish, but to protect and relieve the legitimate rights and interests of laborers through the deterrent and preventive effects of criminal punishment, and the original intention of the legislation is not to frequently apply crimes, but to better protect the labor rights and interests and labor income of laborers, standardize the socialist market economy on the mainland, and promote the formation of an honest and trustworthy market system.
Although the overall data reflects the steady and positive development trend of punishing malicious wage arrears, we are also concerned that there are still problems in the handling of such cases, such as the relatively single source of case clues and the difficulty of recovering the wages of workers who are owed wages. Therefore, as a member unit of the State Council's special action to eradicate wage arrears, procuratorial organs at all levels across the country will continue to maintain the unabated efforts to punish malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law, and strive to promote the solution of the problem of "hard work for a whole year, difficulty in obtaining wages at the end of the year", and protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers.
Question: This year, the procuratorial organs have selected five typical cases for release, what are the key considerations or value orientations of the procuratorial organs in the performance of their duties in punishing the crime of malicious non-payment of wages?
Answer: According to Procurator General Ying Yong's proposal of "fully performing procuratorial functions in accordance with the law, persisting in administering justice for the people, handling every case with high quality and efficiency, punishing the crime of malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law, supporting the prosecution of laborers in difficulty in accordance with the law, and carrying out procuratorial public interest litigation, etc., we will jointly do a better job of serving laborers, and continue to realize, safeguard, and develop the legitimate rights and interests of laborers" We have selected five typical cases from the nearly 100 typical cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration that have been completed since the beginning of this year submitted by procuratorial organs across the country, and each of the five cases has its own focus and characteristics, but all of them reflect the requirements of the procuratorial organs for comprehensively performing their duties, handling cases with high quality and efficiency, and effectively safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of laborers. From the point of view of the performance of criminal procuratorial duties, first, it reflects the attitude of the procuratorial organs to always maintain the attitude of severely punishing the crime of malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law. In practice, the period of arrears of wages in cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration is generally long, with most defendants deliberately delaying wages for more than half a year, and in some cases even several years, and the defendant's refusal to pay labor remuneration has obvious subjective malice, and the phenomenon of evasion of arrears of wages is frequent, and the victims whose rights and interests are damaged are often vulnerable groups. Based on the above-mentioned characteristics, the procuratorial organs have always maintained a posture of severely punishing cases of malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law. For example, in the case of Chai Moumou's refusal to pay labor remuneration, the procuratorate severely punished Chai Moumou in accordance with the law for the amount of wages owed as much as 10.15 million yuan, the number of people in arrears of labor remuneration was as high as 587, and the refusal to pay the arrears of wages, causing serious consequences, and the statutory sentence was upgraded, and according to the recommendation of the procuratorate, the court sentenced Chai Moumou to five years in prison and a fine, reflecting the attitude of severely punishing those who maliciously owed wages with heinous circumstances in accordance with the law. The second is to embody the procuratorial organs' case-handling concept of recovering arrears of wages through multiple channels and making every effort to recover stolen goods and losses. We know that in cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration, the most concerned issue for peasant workers is whether they can get back their hard-earned money, and for this reason, while punishing the crime of malicious wage arrears, the procuratorial organs should not handle the case on a case-by-case basis, but should devote a great deal of energy to the work of recovering unpaid wages and recovering stolen goods and losses, and should use policies and systems such as blending leniency and severity, explaining the law and reasoning, and leniency for those who admit guilt and accepting punishment as the starting point, diversify and expand the channels for recovering arrears of wages, and urge enterprises and individuals in arrears of wages to raise funds and pay remuneration in various ways. For example, in case 5, in the case of Wang and Gao's refusal to pay labor remuneration, because the criminal suspect misappropriated the wages for other purposes, the workers' wages faced the risk of not being able to be repaid in full, and the prosecutor learned that 20% of the final payment of the project warranty had not been paid, so he actively communicated and urged the relevant parties to give priority to ensuring the payment of the arrears of migrant workers' wages after supplementary consultation, so as to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of the workers were implemented. In Case 2, Du Moumou's refusal to pay labor remuneration, the procuratorate also urged the suspect to return the migrant workers' arrears of wages by cash, vehicles, and investment-type real estate credits.
Question: The crime of refusal to pay labor remuneration is a "small case" with a relatively light sentence as a whole, are there any difficulties in the application of law in the practice of handling cases, and what issues do the release of these cases have a guiding effect on grasping the issues?
Answer: The Criminal Law of the Mainland stipulates two levels of imprisonment for the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration: the first is fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or short-term detention and/or a fine; if serious consequences are caused, the sentence is upgraded to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and a fine. In practice, judging from the effective judgments, the vast majority of cases of this crime are minor cases and misdemeanor cases with sentences of less than three years in prison, but there are also some issues in the application of law that deserve attention. For example, Article 276-1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China provides for the determination of "causing serious consequences". Case 1: The case of Chai XX's refusal to pay labor remuneration involves this issue. Chai Moumou concealed the fact that the employer had paid the wages in full, and falsely claimed that the workers' wages should be paid to the workers by the contract-issuing enterprise, causing more than 300 unaware migrant workers to go to the city and county governments for mass petitions five times, seriously disrupting the local social order. The procuratorate determined that his behavior in arrears of wages was a circumstance of "causing serious consequences" as provided for in the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, and then applied the upgraded statutory sentence to Chai Moumou and submitted a sentencing recommendation of sentencing him to five years imprisonment and a fine, which was finally adopted by the court. For another example, in practice, there are many cases of wage arrears in the field of construction engineering, such as illegal subcontracting, subcontracting, failure to set up a special account for migrant workers' wages, mixing of construction materials and wages, and failure to register the real name of employees.
Question: The purpose of the state's "eradication of wage arrears" is to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of laborers, and how do the procuratorial organs play a role in increasing the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of laborers in handling cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration?
Answer: Procurator General Ying Yong pointed out that in the new era and new journey, the task of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers in accordance with the law is heavier and the standards are higher. Safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers in accordance with the law is a comprehensive and systematic project, and to do a good job of this systematic project, the procuratorial organs need to give full play to the advantages of legal supervision functions such as effectively punishing crimes, protecting human rights, and protecting the public interest. It is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
The first is to give full play to the function of criminal punishment and punishment against the "old lai" who maliciously owe wages with greater subjective malice, initiate public prosecutions in accordance with the law, never tolerate them, and deal with arrears in accordance with the law and with an iron fist. From 2020 to November 2023, procuratorates across the country prosecuted 4,895 criminal suspects and 5,419 people in accordance with the law against criminal suspects who still failed to fulfill their payment obligations after criminal cases were filed and recovered.
The second is to help workers recover stolen goods and recover losses through multiple channels, and provide judicial assistance in accordance with the law. From January to November 2023, procuratorial organs across the country relied on cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration to recover a total of 325 million yuan in arrears of wages, and in addition, they also carried out judicial assistance to 2,748 victims who met the conditions for assistance, with a total amount of 8.456 million yuan, to solve the urgent needs of workers. The number of people receiving judicial assistance increased by 2.4 times over the same period last year, and the amount of assistance increased by 1.2 times over the same period last year.
(3) Where there are omissions of the wages owed and the amount of wages owed, they shall be added in accordance with law. For example, in the case of case 5, Wang and Gao, who refused to pay labor remuneration, the procuratorate found through early intervention that in addition to the 18 workers who complained to the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, there were also 28 workers who "had no way to ask for wages" due to lack of documentary evidence and other evidence, so they promptly guided the investigators to collect and fix relevant evidence, and finally determined the identities of the victims of 46 workers, and the amount involved in the case also increased from the initial 293,000 yuan to more than 1.473 million yuan.
Fourth, perform the function of case filing and supervision in accordance with the law. From 2020 to November 2023, the procuratorate supervised a total of 648 cases of refusal to pay labor remuneration and 715 people were filed, and from January to November this year, the number of cases supervised by the procuratorate increased by 67.5% compared with the same period in 2019. In Case 2, Du Moumou's case of arrears of wages, the victim Shu and more than 40 other people initially reported the case to the public security organs but did not file the case, so they submitted an application to the Baihelin District Procuratorate of Jilin Province for case filing supervision, and the procuratorate actively carried out investigation and verification, and supervised the filing of the case in accordance with the law after collecting and supplementing relevant evidence.
Fifth, the "four major procuratorates" have made joint efforts to promote the normalization and institutionalization of the protection of rights and interests. For example, in Case 3, the Pengxi County Procuratorate in Sichuan Province adhered to the linkage between criminal and civil law, and simultaneously carried out civil support prosecution work for migrant workers in arrears of wages while prosecuting the relevant responsible persons, fully recovered the arrears of 1.2 million yuan in wages, and closed the case. In Case 4, the criminal prosecution and public interest litigation prosecution of the Linzhou Municipal Procuratorate of Henan Province performed their duties in coordination to carry out synchronous supervision of the salary guarantee system for migrant workers in the city's construction industry and the "special account management platform for migrant workers' wages".
In the next step, procuratorial organs at all levels across the country will continue to take the punishment of malicious wage arrears in accordance with the law as the focus and entry point of serving and protecting the people's livelihood, perform their case-handling duties such as reviewing arrests, reviewing prosecutions, and supervising case filing in accordance with the law, handle every case with high quality and efficiency, provide judicial guarantees for the eradication of wage arrears, and realize, safeguard, and develop the fundamental interests of ordinary workers.
(Source: Kunlun Policy Network [Comprehensive], reproduced from "Xinhua News Agency" and "Supreme People's Procuratorate")