An executive of a wood company was sentenced by a Shanghai court yesterday to two years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan ($14,400) for refusing to pay salaries to employees. He has also received a further jail term and more fines for other offenses.
Workers at the wood company in Qingpu District, which was run by the defendant surnamed Liao, complained to the human resources and social security bureau on January 27 that they had not been paid for months.
Investigation confirmed that the company owed about 1.9 million yuan to more than 100 employees, most of whom were migrant workers. Labor inspection officials ordered Liao to pay the money within two days.
Liao failed to do so and confessed the company was broke.
Officials helped the company to receive 350,000 yuan it was owed on February 3 and set aside part of that for salaries. But more than 1.5 million yuan owed to 136 workers was not paid. The firm has stopped operating.
As Liao suddenly cut off contact with labor inspection officials on June 20, the district human resources and social security bureau handed the case onto police, who issued a wanted circular online. Liao was caught while gambling in Macau and was arrested in September.
He was also charged with contract fraud and was sentenced to three and half years in prison and fined 200,000 yuan.
In total, he was ordered to spend five years in jail and to pay 200,000 yuan in fines.
The city launched a campaign on December 1 to check migrant workers were being paid ahead of the Spring Festival.
Inspections were made mainly in industries where most employees are migrant workers.
Labor supervision authorities have checked more than 2,000 enterprises and ordered employers to pay more than 10 million yuan of owed salaries.
A hotline "12333" and website (www.12333sh.gov.cn) also operate round the clock to receive complaints.
