Circumstances excluding criminal liability for nonpayment of wages

Relevance of the research topic. The criminal code of the Russian Federation establishes criminal liability for non-payment of wages (article 1451). Liability under this rule occurs only if the employer has the actual ability to make payment of wages. In this regard, the author analyzes situations that may indicate the absence of such a possibility, and their significance in the qualification of the crime, based on the study of judicial and investigative practice. Problem statement. In science, there is no unity of views regarding the qualification of situations in which the perpetrator does not have the opportunity to repay the arrears of wages. It is proposed to consider the existing cases according to the rules of extreme necessity, reasonable risk, innocent behavior, and so on. However, each of these institutions differs in a specific set of characteristics necessary for the recognition of the committed act as inviolable. In this regard, the possibility of exemption from criminal liability for nonpayment of wages directly depends on the circumstance that eliminates the criminality of the committed act, if there are good reasons for non-payment, it can be attributed to. Research goals and methods. The purpose of the study is to assess the criminal law circumstances in which the crime of non-payment of wages can be eliminated. The paper uses dialectical, comparative legal, historical-legal, formal-legal methods of legal research. Results and key conclusions. A study was conducted on the possibility of applying the circumstances provided for by the Criminal code of the Russian Federation that eliminate the criminality of an act to cases of non-payment of wages. The conclusion that only extreme necessity can be considered as the only such circumstance is substantiated.