YES

Li Kejie

Associate professor from Shandong University of Political Science and Law

Some oppose punishing wage defaulters by means of Criminal Law, with the excuse that back pay is a debt dispute under mediation of Civil Law. This misconception results from their misunderstanding of the nature of labor and labor compensation. 

In modern society under the rule of law, the boundaries of Labor Law and Civil Law have been clarified. These two laws apply to different principles and regulations. Legally speaking, working is the prerequisite of survival. As essential parts of human rights, the rights to work and labor compensation have been approved by international laws on human rights. In this sense, the issue of back pay is not merely a debt dispute, but is directly related to the issue of whether workers and their families have living conditions that satisfy human dignity. Refusing to pay workers wages will threaten workers and their families' basic survival. Therefore, this is different from a debt dispute.

Jin Haiyan

gmw.cn

Failing to pay wages owed has a bad impact not only on the individual employee, but also on society as a whole. For employees, when they are not paid they suffer both physically and psychologically. Socially, not paying workers can lead to instability, leading to increased costs in social administration. This is because the government will have to use up substantial finances and human resources to help employees' recover wages. However, some employers do manage to escape from being punished. This is huge social unfairness.

In essence, defaulting on wages is fraud. As for ordinary fraudulent conduct, we can resort to the police. However, currently, the workers have no legal means to recover wages except by themselves. What transpires is to find more money to use to help them recover wages they were owed in the first place. Isn't this showing the law's tolerance to malicious employers?

Of course, before including this issue into the Criminal Law, lawmakers should do further research and clearly define this crime. But, it cannot be ignored.

Jiang Lin

jhnews.com.cn

The proposal shows that the state's legislative organ attaches importance to protecting employees' interests. If it is approved, these malicious bosses will be severely punished, undoubtedly deterring the similar activities from happening.  

Getting labor compensation is one of workers' basic rights. However, some employers deliberately appropriate employees' wages with the excuse that their companies are in bankrupt. Such behavior infringes on employees' rights to getting labor compensation, damaging the employer-employee relationship and social stability.

Both from the perspective of ensuring people's well-being and perfecting the law, it is imperative to classify wage defaulting as a crime.