New blacklist targets employers who withhold pay from migrant workers

Several companies and individuals will be subject to various restrictions and placed on a newly instituted blacklist for a year after being found guilty of withholding migrant workers' wages, China's human resources authority announced on Thursday.

Restrictions will be placed on travel as well as financing and borrowing, and tax benefits will be removed.

If within a year of being blacklisted they commit no additional violations, their names will be removed and all privileges restored.

"The 14 companies and six individuals blacklisted this time will be punished not only by local human resources departments, but also by other authorities in terms of government funds availability, and additional restrictions may also come into play, such as on bidding and tendering activities as well as production permit issuance," said Qiu Xiaoping, vice-minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

"The blacklist, which was utilized for the first time, will also be viewable by creditors on an information-sharing platform."

The most severe case on the new blacklist is a construction company based in Chongqing, in southwestern China, which failed to pay 113 migrant workers more than 5.96 million yuan ($891,000) in back wages.

Last year, the ministry first proposed the concept of a blacklist to punish companies and individuals withholding pay to migrant workers.

In addition, a total of 30 ministries and organizations, including the National Development and Reform Commission, People's Bank of China and China Railway Corp, agreed to jointly punish those on the blacklist.

According to the memorandum of cooperation they reached in November, blacklisted individuals cannot board planes or book first-class seats on bullet trains in China for a year.