An employer who postpones paying a worker 5,000 yuan ($804) may face up to seven years in prison, according to an interpretation of the part concerning delayed wages in Criminal Law released by the Supreme People's Court, China's top court, on Tuesday.

An employer who delays paying one worker 5,000 yuan for more than three months or 30,000 yuan to 10 workers can be considered to have delayed the payment of "a large amount of money", according to the interpretation.

The employer can be sentenced to seven years in prison if the delay seriously affects the basic living of workers' families or if the employer uses violence and threats against the worker demanding their money.