The national regulation, which was signed by Premier Wen Jiabao earlier this month and made public Sunday, says that government authorities should set deadlines for companies to pay back wages, and if the deadlines expire, the companies must pay compensation of 50 to 100 percent of the due wages to the employees, plus the wages.

If an employee's wage is lower than the minimum wage, the employer should pay the difference, if it failed to pay the difference by a deadline set by the government, it must compensate the employee 50 to 100 percent of the difference, says the regulation.

Meanwhile, if employers do not compensate employees who are fired before completing the employment contract, the employer must pay the employee an additional compensation of 50 to 100 percent, says the regulation.

The regulation prohibits women working in mines or pregnant women doing heavy manual work. Employers must pay compensation of 1,000 yuan (US$122) to 5,000 yuan for each woman doing such work, says the regulation.

Companies should not require women more than seven months pregnant or those feeding babies less than one year old to work at night under penalty of 1,000 to 5,000 yuan compensation for each of the women, says the regulation.