Before you send the next message about china employer not paying wages, let Caira review the documents and identify the missing information. Ask about China law, draft letters or forms, and upload files for review.
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Check the dismissal date, deadline, contract, warnings, pay records and messages first.
For RMB 10 million of salary, bonus or severance, a careful chronology can change the negotiation.
Preserve lawful evidence, but avoid taking confidential files you should not access.
Use Caira to build a timeline and draft a response checklist.
If a Chinese employer has not paid wages, the first useful step is to turn the problem into a dated evidence file. Do not start with a dramatic message or a copied legal threat. Start by identifying the employer, the wage period, the amount due, what has already been paid, and the documents that prove each figure. The official source family for this guide is the MOHRSS labour dispute mediation and arbitration material, the national law database, and the labour-law source pages listed in the official materials.
Who this is for
This guide is for employees in mainland China dealing with unpaid salary, final wages, commission, overtime claims where supported, reimbursement, or promised compensation after resignation or termination. It may help foreign employees, bilingual staff, and local employees who need to prepare a Chinese-language request. It is not for ordinary freelancer invoices or supplier debts. If the relationship is really a service contract, use a contract non-payment route instead of assuming labour arbitration applies.
Identify the legal employer
Many wage files become messy because the worker names the supervisor, shop sign, WeChat contact, or operating brand rather than the legal employer. Check the labour contract, offer letter, company chop, payslips, bank transfer sender, social insurance or tax records, work permit documents where relevant, HR emails, and termination notice. If several company names appear, make a small table showing which entity hired you, which entity paid you, and which manager controlled the work.
Keep the company address and unified social credit code if they appear on formal documents.
Useful Simplified Chinese labels include 劳动合同 for labour contract, 工资 for wages, 拖欠工资 for unpaid wages, 劳动仲裁 for labour arbitration, 考勤记录 for attendance record, 工资条 for payslip, and 银行流水 for bank records.
Build the wage calculation
Do not submit or send only a single total. Create a table with claim item, period, agreed rate, amount due, amount paid, deduction or dispute, balance, and evidence. Separate base salary, commission, overtime, bonus, reimbursement, final wage, payment in lieu of notice, and any other item. If the employer paid part of the amount, show it clearly. A lower but well-supported figure is usually more credible than a large unexplained number.
Preserve evidence before access disappears
Save the contract, onboarding messages, staff ID, attendance records, rosters, payslips, bank transfers, payroll promises, work chat records, task assignments, resignation or termination messages, and any written admission that payment is delayed. Export or screenshot enough context to show sender, date, and sequence. If evidence is stored in a company system, preserve what you are allowed to preserve before the account is closed.
Send a factual wage request
A calm message can resolve payment or create a useful timestamp:
您好，[HR/负责人姓名]：本人于[日期]至[日期]在[公司名称]担任[岗位]。截至目前，[期间/项目]工资尚未支付。根据劳动合同、考勤记录及工资记录，我初步计算未付金额为人民币[金额]元。请于[日期]前安排支付，或提供公司认为应付金额的书面计算明细及依据。谢谢。[姓名]
If the employer replies that the amount is wrong, ask for the payroll calculation, attendance basis, deduction reason, and payment date. Keep the reply. Do not argue only by voice call if the written record is important.
Check the official route before filing
The official notes point to labour dispute mediation and arbitration as the official source family for wage disputes, but local filing details can vary. Check the human resources and social security bureau or labour arbitration body for the city where the employment relationship should be handled. Before filing, confirm employer identity, claim type, limitation or timing issues, required documents, appointment or online portal steps, and whether mediation is available or required in practice.
Common mistakes
Do not name the wrong employer. Do not mix every workplace complaint into an unpaid-wage calculation. Do not delete WeChat records after leaving. Do not sign a receipt saying all wages are settled unless the amount is correct and paid. Do not assume a foreign-language offer letter proves every Chinese labour-law point without checking the Chinese documents and local procedure.
Where Unwildered fits
Upload the labour contract, payslips, attendance records, bank transfers, HR messages, and your wage table. Unwildered can help organise the file into employer identity, timeline, evidence, and claim calculation before you use official labour channels.
Official context to check
The useful official hook is not a national rent average; it is the 2025 housing-rental framework. Treat the State Council regulation and the SAMR model lease as document-quality signals: identity, authority to rent, deposit wording, repair allocation, handover evidence and local filing should all line up.
Sources
State Council official portal: 2025 housing rental regulations
SAMR: 2025 model urban housing lease
local housing bureau or rental filing platform
MOHRSS labour contract materials
NPC law database: labour dispute mediation and arbitration law
This article is general information, not legal, financial, medical or tax advice.
