Let workers no longer worry about ＂salary＂ and ＂reward＂
[Editor’s note]The Spring Festival is coming soon, and "asking for salary" has become a hot topic at the end of the year. After working hard for a year, whether you can get full wages in time is a major event for every migrant worker. Recently, the Office of the Leading Group for the Eradication of Wages Arrears for Migrant Workers in the State Council issued the Notice on Launching the Winter Special Action for Eradication of Wages Arrears, and decided to implement centralized and special treatment for wage arrears nationwide from November 1, 2021 to the Spring Festival in 2022. Wage arrears are hidden, some workers have a weak legal awareness, and workers face difficulties in safeguarding their rights. While punishing the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration according to law and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of workers, procuratorial organs pay attention to explaining the law by case and transmitting judicial temperature through procuratorial services.
[Never let the unpaid wages chill the hearts of migrant workers]
The procurator of Jinjiang City Procuratorate visited the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to check the enforcement of the "two laws" convergence platform.
"Yu Mou ‘an’s refusal to pay labor remuneration was listed as a typical case by the highest inspection. We should increase publicity and give play to the role of case warning education. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the connection between the’ two laws’ and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers. " At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the procuratorate of Jinjiang City, Fujian Province took helping to solve the problem of wage arrears for migrant workers according to law as a focus of work to relieve the people’s urgent difficulties and worries.
On January 7, the reporter learned that the hospital cooperated with many departments to carry out special investigations to ensure the payment of wages for migrant workers, and relied on the "two laws" convergence mechanism to strengthen the clues of cases, analyze and judge the clues of cases of refusing to pay labor remuneration found in the work for the first time, and start the case-filing supervision procedure in time.
Hard work but unpaid wages
Yu Mouan is the legal representative and actual operator of Jinjiang Sifu Shoe Material Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Sifu Company"). Since April 2018, Yu Mou ‘an has rented factories and machinery and equipment in Jinjiang Economic Development Zone, and organized workers to engage in shoe manufacturing and processing. The company has grown from more than 20 people at the beginning to nearly 100 people, and the workers are mainly migrant workers, many of whom are couples or brothers and sisters.
"There are too many debts, and the company can’t do it anymore." In June 2019, Yu Mouan sent this text message to a manager of the company, and then lost contact, and the company was paralyzed. Lao Wang and his wife, who work in the company, came to Yu Mou ‘an’s factory as assembly line workers because of their poor family. They had to clean more than 1,000 pairs of sports shoes soles a day, counting on their monthly salary to make a living. I didn’t expect Yu Mou ‘an not only not to pay wages, but also to play "missing".
97 workers, including Lao Li and Xiao Liu, also didn’t get the money, and were owed a total of 1.34 million yuan in wages. In desperation, 97 workers complained about the situation to Jinjiang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. After the administrative instruction of labor security supervision was rectified within a time limit, Yu Mou ‘an failed to come forward to solve the problem of wage arrears at the specified time and place, and still failed to pay the wages owed to workers after the deadline.
Finding problem clues through the connection of "two methods"
"It is not easy to work outside, and you must not let the unpaid wages chill the hearts of migrant workers!" On July 5, 2019, when Jinjiang City Procuratorate carried out the inspection of the "two laws" convergence law enforcement, it found the above clues of Yu Mou ‘an by inquiring about the information sharing platform of administrative law enforcement and criminal justice in Fujian Province. After examination, it is considered that Yu Mou ‘an has a large amount of unpaid wages and a large number of people involved, and the unpaid workers have strong demands. Yu Mou ‘an’s refusal to pay labor remuneration has seriously damaged the interests of the people and has been suspected of committing a crime.
In order to help migrant workers recover their unpaid wages in time, Jinjiang City Procuratorate started the supervision procedure according to law in July 2019, suggesting that Jinjiang City Human Resources and Social Security Bureau promptly transfer criminal clues to the public security organs, supervise the public security organs to file a case for investigation in time, and send personnel to intervene in the investigation in time, guide the collection and fixation of relevant evidence, and promote the effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice. In April 2020, Yu Mou ‘an, who fled outside the province, was arrested and brought to justice by the public security organs.
While advising Jinjiang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to transfer criminal clues, the hospital actively visited relevant departments and companies involved in the case, and cooperated with Jinjiang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, township judicial office, municipal letters and calls bureau and other departments to appease the emotions of unpaid workers, actively explain the law, guide them to rationally defend their rights, and coordinate Jinjiang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, township governments involved, factory rental companies and migrant workers’ representatives to discuss solutions to pay wages.
After combing, it is found that Sifu Company still has some unpaid payment, and there are some products, semi-finished products, machine molds and other assets in the warehouse. In the end, with the efforts of all parties, the company got back part of the payment, sold the warehouse inventory and some machines and equipment, and the factory rental company paid part of it in advance, raising a total salary of more than 1.25 million yuan, which was paid according to the proportion of 93% of the wages owed to each of the 97 workers, thus solving the urgent needs of migrant workers in time.
Realize the unification of "three effects"
"I was so naive that I thought I could make a comeback by fleeing to other provinces. I didn’t see the workers working hard but got nothing. I was wrong." In the stage of examination and prosecution, Yu Mou ‘an truthfully confessed the crime, voluntarily pleaded guilty and admitted punishment, and said that after the case was handled, he would go to work to make money, and after making money, he would definitely pay off the remaining wages owed to the workers.
In view of the fact that after the incident, Yu Mou ‘an still owed part of his salary, and the part of the unpaid salary recovered in this case was paid by the factory rental company, Jinjiang City Procuratorate integrated the criminal facts and circumstances of the whole case and filed a public prosecution against Yu Mou ‘an according to law on May 10, 2021. On August 20, the court adopted all the criminal facts, charges and sentencing suggestions accused by the procuratorate, sentenced Yu Mou ‘an to one year’s imprisonment and fined him 30,000 yuan.
The handling of this case has achieved the organic unity of political effect, legal effect and social effect. On January 6th, it was rated as a typical case in which the procuratorial organ punished the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration according to law.
"After the unpaid wages were recovered in time, we continued to work in Jinjiang. Because of the problem of wage arrears, with the support of procuratorial organs and relevant departments, everyone feels very practical and confident. " When they got the unpaid wages, the workers said to the prosecutor.
(Reporter Zhang Renping
Correspondent Chen Shixin)
[The annoying "salary" problem of the over-age elderly has finally been solved]
Prosecutors of Yiwu Procuratorate went to the community to investigate the protection of over-age workers.
"It’s really not easy for us to make money when we are old. I didn’t expect you to take the things of our people to heart. I finally got my salary that has been delayed for more than two years." Recently, 68-year-old Lao Zhang received arrears of wages and called the prosecutor of Yiwu Procuratorate in Zhejiang Province at the first time.
When working, the boss "runs away"
In August 2018, Liang of Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, partnered with several friends to open a cultural company in Yiwu, mainly engaged in KTV, and recruited employees to be responsible for management, service and cleaning. At that time, Lao Zhang, who was 65 years old, had no pension insurance. In order to supplement his family, he came to Liang’s company to apply as a cleaner, with a salary of 3,000 yuan per month. At first, he got a salary every month, but then the company was on the verge of bankruptcy because of poor management, and the salary was always delayed. Urged by Lao Zhang and others, the company’s managers picked up the phone and asked Liang about his salary, only to find that his WeChat and phone had already been blacked out by Liang and could not be contacted at all. Later, they also found that Liang had changed the legal representative of the company to someone else. This time, Lao Zhang and others suddenly realized that the boss was going to "run away". What about everyone’s salary?
"The boss still owes me 4,500 yuan, which is my pension money. I have to get it back." In desperation, on September 26, 2019, Lao Zhang and other employees who were owed wages jointly complained to Yiwu Human Resources and Social Security Bureau (hereinafter referred to as the "Human Resources and Social Security Bureau"). After the review, the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau issued an order (deadline) to Liang and his company, ordering him to pay off the arrears of wages on November 8 of the same year. However, Liang still refused to pay after receiving the notice, and his behavior was suspected of refusing to pay labor remuneration. The public security organ filed a case for investigation on January 6, 2020. On January 11, 2021, Liang was arrested and brought to justice by the public security organs.
On March 24th, 2021, Yiwu Public Security Bureau transferred the case to Yiwu Procuratorate for review and prosecution.
27 people complained why only 24 people were identified.
Wu Yongqiang, director of the Second Procuratorial Department of Yiwu Procuratorate, accepted the case. After a comprehensive review of the case, he believes that Liang evaded the payment of labor remuneration by hiding, and his behavior has been suspected of refusing to pay labor remuneration. After Liang was brought to justice, he paid 24 employees a total salary of 88,000 yuan in the investigation stage of the public security organs. However, a special case in the case file caught Wu Yongqiang’s attention. He found that there were 27 employees whose wages were in arrears, with a total salary of more than 97,000 yuan. However, in the order (deadline) issued by the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, only the salary of 24 employees was determined to be more than 88,000 yuan, and the salary of 3 employees was not determined. How did this happen?
Wu Yongqiang immediately consulted the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, and the reply was: "One of the three employees could not confirm his salary because he could not be contacted. The other two employees, Lao Zhang and Lao Liu, have reached retirement age and are over-age workers. According to the relevant provisions of the Labor Law, this belongs to labour relation, not labor relations, so it has not been recognized, and they can defend their rights through other judicial channels."
Although there is such a provision in the law, Lao Zhang and Lao Liu are old after all, and their education level is not high. It takes a long time and the litigation cost is high to let them defend their rights through other judicial channels. Wu Yongqiang and his colleagues began to think, is there any way to better solve contradictions and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of workers in the procuratorial process?
The problem was solved.
In November, 2021, Lao Zhang learned that other employees were paid and went to the 12309 Procuratorial Service Center in Yiwu to report the situation: "I am old, how can I know how to go to court? Is my hard-earned money wasted like this?"
In fact, Wu Yongqiang has long kept Lao Zhang’s annoying "salary" in mind. He studied the relevant laws and regulations on the protection of labor rights and interests. According to Article 7 of the Supreme Law "Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Labor Dispute Cases (III)", it is not simple to equate "overage" with labour relation directly. For overage workers who do not enjoy pension insurance benefits and receive pensions, they should confirm their labor relations with employers and implement equal protection. On the other hand, he opened the gap from the suspect Liang and explained the law to him many times. "I see, I am willing to pay back their money." In the end, Liang paid the wages owed to Lao Zhang and Lao Liu to the special account of the labor administrative department. Lao Zhang and Lao Liu finally got their own wages.
The procuratorial organ comprehensively considered the whole case and held that Liang owed wages due to poor management. Although he escaped, he paid the employee’s wages in full after the incident, which did not cause serious consequences. In the near future, he was relatively not prosecuted.
With the trend of aging population, the employment of the elderly is becoming more and more common. How to better safeguard their legitimate rights and interests? In combination with this case, Wu Yongqiang and his colleagues combed the relevant legal provisions, consulted judicial precedents, identified the legal basis for distinguishing labor relations from labour relation, consulted with the local labor administrative department and sent procuratorial suggestions, suggesting that the over-age workers who did not enjoy pension insurance benefits and did not receive pension should be protected by labor law.
In addition, for the over-age workers who have enjoyed pension insurance benefits and pensions according to law, although it is not an adjustment of the labor law, they suggest that the labor administrative department accept such complaints and transfer the criminal cases together, so as to urge the unpaid workers to repay their wages and maximize the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of workers.
(Reporter Fan Yuehong
Correspondent Lai Wei)
[Be a good "salary protector"]
The prosecutor questioned the witness.
A few days ago, a criminal protest case of refusing to pay migrant workers’ labor remuneration handled by Panzhihua City Procuratorate in Sichuan Province was supported by the court of second instance and changed. This case is the first case of refusing to pay labor remuneration in Sichuan province, where a criminal protest was filed and it was successful. On January 6th, the case was rated as a typical case in which the procuratorate punished the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration according to law.
The person who owes wages meets the person who protects wages.
From 2018 to 2020, in the name of Panzhihua Xirong Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., Liu undertook housing construction projects in Renhe District and Yanbian County of Panzhihua City, and received a total project payment of more than 1 million yuan. When paying the wages of migrant workers, he used a crooked brain. He owed more than 60 migrant workers wages twice, totaling more than 270,000 yuan, and the longest time span was three years.
The human and social departments in Renhe District and Yanbian County have repeatedly issued a decision to order correction and a correction instruction for labor security supervision within a time limit, but Liu ignored it and even tried to avoid paying the remaining wages of migrant workers by changing his phone number and going to work in other places.
On February 9, 2021, Renhe District Procuratorate approved the arrest of Liu on suspicion of refusing to pay labor remuneration. In the stage of examination and prosecution, the prosecutor found that Liu owed two wages, one was owed more than 154,000 yuan to 30 migrant workers, and the other was not paid in full to 30 migrant workers, totaling more than 118,000 yuan. On May 11th, the court prosecuted Liu according to law.
In June, 2021, Renhe District Court ruled in the first instance that the first criminal fact constituted the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration. However, Liu was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment on the grounds that the second fact did not constitute a crime because of the omission of the word "payment" and the lack of the precondition of "being ordered to pay by the relevant government departments" in the labor security supervision instruction book issued by Yanbian County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau (hereinafter referred to as Yanbian County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau)
People who "protect their salaries" are also concerned.
"After getting the verdict, we believe that the criminal fact that Liu defaulted on the wages of migrant workers of more than 118,000 yuan was indeed wrong in the first-instance judgment, resulting in a very light sentence. In order to effectively perform legal supervision duties, effectively crack down on the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers according to law, we lodged a protest with the municipal intermediate court, which was also supported by the provincial and municipal procuratorates. " The prosecutor of Renhe District Procuratorate told the reporter.
In order to further find out the facts and consolidate the evidence system of protest in the second instance, Panzhihua City Procuratorate set up a special case-handling team to carry out self-supplementary investigation in view of the reasons why the facts were not confirmed in the first instance judgment, the key verbal evidence and the ambiguous documentary evidence, and successively extracted documentary evidence such as the receipt from Yanbian County People’s Social Security Bureau according to law, asked the law enforcement officers and relevant witnesses of the bureau, and visited the registered place of the company involved.
Upon verification, the word "payment" was not omitted in the instruction book of labor security supervision deadline correction delivered by Yanbian County People’s Social Security Bureau, but it was omitted in the evidence materials handed over by the bureau to the public security organs. At the same time, the hospital verified that the Yanbian County People’s Social Security Bureau had issued a notice of inquiry on labor security supervision investigation to Liu before issuing the instruction book, informing the bureau that it had filed an investigation on its unpaid wages and organized it to mediate with the unpaid migrant workers. The subsequent instruction book also stated the objective fact that it owed wages to migrant workers. The hospital believes that even if the word "payment" is omitted from the instruction book, it will not affect Liu’s cognition of the administrative organ’s request for payment of labor remuneration, or make the general public misunderstand the meaning of the instruction bibliography. The pre-action of "ordered to pay by the relevant government departments" existed from the beginning and was fully confirmed by new evidence.
On November 4, 2021, Panzhihua Intermediate People’s Court made a second-instance judgment, adopted the protest opinions of the procuratorate, and found that Liu’s refusal to pay migrant workers’ wages of more than 118,000 yuan constituted a crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration, and sentenced him to one year and ten months in prison and fined him 50,000 yuan.
"Sichuan is a dual province of local employment and labor export for migrant workers. Ensuring the payment of wages for migrant workers is related to the overall situation of economic development and social stability. Sichuan procuratorial organs resolutely implemented the State Council’s’ Winter Special Action’ and the special deployment of the highest inspection, which not only severely cracked down on malicious wage arrears, but also decisively exercised the means of protest to play the role of legal supervision. At the same time, through this case, the publicity and education of the rule of law were strengthened, which played a very good warning role in cracking down on crimes of refusing to pay labor remuneration. " The main person in charge of the first procuratorate of the Sichuan Provincial Procuratorate said.
(Our reporter Cao Yingpin   Correspondent Lin Lu)