Individual industrial and commercial households belong to the "employer" stipulated in the Labor Contract Law, and the relationship between workers and individual industrial and commercial households can be recognized as a labor relationship. The cancellation of individual industrial and commercial households cannot escape the debt responsibility. Attempting to evade debt responsibilities, including unpaid wages, by canceling individual businesses cannot produce legal avoidance effects. Recently, two labor contract disputes between Nanjing and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province have attracted attention. Both cases involve individual industrial and commercial households whose operators are still held liable for unfulfilled debts after cancellation, including paying employee wages, economic compensation, and double the difference in wages without signing a written labor contract. The reporter learned that in some small businesses, it is common to default on employee wages and attempt to evade debt responsibility by canceling business licenses. The verdicts of these two cases indicate that the cancellation of individual industrial and commercial households does not allow the operators to evade debt liability. The operator cannot escape the responsibility of payment. In February 2023, Yang Jun went to a restaurant in Nanjing to work as a chef, usually from 10am to 10pm, under the management of the owner Liu and his family member Li. Both parties have not signed a written labor contract. In May 2023, Yang Jun resigned, but his salary has not been settled yet. After unsuccessful demands, he applied to the arbitration commission for arbitration, demanding that the restaurant operator pay twice the salary difference, economic compensation, and unpaid wages for the unsigned written labor contract. The arbitration commission found that the restaurant had been deregistered and issued a notice of non acceptance on the grounds of the disappearance of the subject. Subsequently, Yang Jun filed a lawsuit with the Jiangning District People's Court in Nanjing. The first instance court determined that Yang Jun had a labor relationship with the restaurant operator from February 6, 2023 to May 10, 2023. The restaurant operator failed to pay Yang Jun's salary on time and did not sign a written labor contract with him. Therefore, the restaurant operator is ordered to pay Yang Jun twice the salary difference of 20000 yuan and 8200 yuan in unpaid wages. Liu appealed to the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court against the first instance judgment, requesting the revocation of the first instance judgment and the rejection of Yang Jun's lawsuit. Liu appealed, claiming that the actual operator of the restaurant was Li, not himself, and that there was no labor relationship between Yang Jun and the restaurant. After trial, the second instance court found that Li, as the manager of the restaurant, managed and paid Yang Jun, which is sufficient to prove the existence of a labor relationship between Yang Jun and the restaurant. Article 56 of the Civil Code stipulates that the debts of individual industrial and commercial households, if operated by individuals, shall be borne by their personal property. Therefore, as the operator of the restaurant, Liu should bear the debt of the restaurant. The second instance court believes that the first instance court's determination of the facts is clear and the application of the law is correct, and should be upheld. Based on this, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court made a final judgment, rejecting Liu's appeal request and upholding the original verdict. The three stores share the responsibility without exception. Recently, the Intermediate People's Court of Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, made a final judgment on a labor contract dispute case, ruling that the operator and actual operator of a cancelled individual business shall jointly bear the payment responsibility to the hairdresser. On November 15, 2020, Zhang Li joined a store in Changjing Town, Jiangyin, Wuxi, working as a hairdresser. However, the hair salon, beauty salon, and hair salon in Jiangyin, to which the store belongs, have not signed a labor contract with Zhang Li, nor have they paid social insurance for her. During Zhang Li's work period, her salary was paid by He and others through WeChat transfer and other means. From March to May 2022, due to the epidemic, Zhang Li's attendance was affected. Nevertheless, she still provided some labor. However, Zhang Li did not receive her salary on time and in full. After multiple unsuccessful requests, Zhang Li sent a notice to Guan and He on May 26, 2022, resigning and applying for labor arbitration on the grounds of not paying wages on time and in full. During the arbitration period, a hair salon, a beauty salon, and a hair salon in Jiangyin City were deregistered. Therefore, the arbitration commission revoked Zhang Li's arbitration application. Subsequently, Zhang Li was sued by Guan and He, demanding that they jointly pay salaries, double the salary difference, economic compensation, and other expenses. The first instance court held that the debts of individual industrial and commercial households, if operated by individuals, shall be borne by their personal property. As three stores have been cancelled, Guan, as the operator of a hair salon and a beauty salon in Jiangyin City, and He, as the operator of a hair salon in Jiangyin City, should bear the responsibility for the debts of these three stores. Meanwhile, as He recognizes him as the actual operator and Guan confirms him as the registered operator and sometimes participates in the operation and management of the store, the two should jointly bear the responsibility for the above-mentioned debts. The court also found that during Zhang Li's tenure, none of the three stores signed a labor contract with her. Therefore, He should pay Zhang Li twice the salary difference for not signing a written labor contract. In addition, due to He's failure to fully pay Zhang Li's labor remuneration, Zhang Li terminated her employment relationship and requested economic compensation, which was also supported by the court. After the first instance verdict, both Guan and He appealed. In the end, the second instance court rejected the appeal requests of Guan and He, and upheld the original verdict. Guan and He need to jointly pay Zhang Li's remaining salary, double the salary difference without signing a written labor contract, and economic compensation totaling more than 118000 yuan. Cancelling debts cannot escape the responsibility of individual industrial and commercial households. Zhuang Yu, a lawyer at the Xuanwu District Legal Aid Center in Nanjing, said that the judgment results of these two cases remind individual industrial and commercial operators and actual operators to sign labor contracts with workers in accordance with the law, pay social insurance, and timely and fully pay labor remuneration. Otherwise, once the store is cancelled or disputes arise, the operator will be held legally responsible. Zhuang Yu believes that individual industrial and commercial households belong to the "employer" stipulated in the Labor Contract Law, and the relationship between workers and individual industrial and commercial households can be recognized as a labor relationship. After the cancellation of individual industrial and commercial households, they lose their qualification as civil business entities, and all rights and obligations of the original individual industrial and commercial households are transferred to the individual operators. For civil disputes involving individual industrial and commercial households that have not been resolved before cancellation, the individual operator of the individual industrial and commercial household shall participate in the litigation as a new party (defendant). In addition, the obligation to pay wages is a labor responsibility that employers should fulfill. During the employee's employment, the employer shall sign a labor contract with the employee. If the contract is not signed, the employer shall bear the responsibility. At the same time as terminating the labor relationship, the employee may claim payment of twice the salary difference from the second month of employment to the date of resignation from the operator, based on double the actual monthly salary, deducting the portion of the salary already paid; At the same time, based on the length of work experience, demand payment of economic compensation from the operator. The Nanjing Intermediate People's Court reminds workers to protect their rights in accordance with the law when encountering labor disputes. For issues such as unsigned labor contracts, failure to pay social insurance, and wage arrears, workers can file complaints and reports with the labor supervision department, or protect their legitimate rights and interests through labor arbitration, litigation, and other means. At the same time, we remind all operators to sign labor contracts with workers in accordance with the law and pay their wages in a timely manner. Individual business operators should ensure that all debts have been properly handled before deregistration, including clear settlement of wages, benefits, economic compensation and other expenses with employees, as well as clear and resolved creditor debtor relationships such as payment and service fees with suppliers and customers. Attempting to evade debt liability by canceling individual businesses is against good faith and cannot produce legal avoidance effects. (New Society)