The legal concept of non-payment of wages is criminalized by the Criminal Code from 2011. Earlier Criminal Laws also knew this violation of labor relations, but the turning point was the last law that established this violation as an independent criminal offense. The need for this type of criminal law regulation was analyzed and a relevant German article was compared, which was taken as a model. The Government of the Republic of Croatia stated in its Final proposal of the law that the German system was taken over, but is that really the case? The proposal of the German Government was analyzed on what values ​​they tried to protect and how they regulated the non-payment of wages and the payment of contributions. With a critical approach, all actions that a worker can lead against an employer are presented. It was tried to put in the position of workers and indicate which misdemeanor or criminal proceedings to conduct, and what to pay special attention to. A large number of criminal charges are dismissed due to the current legal regulation, so the direct collection systems available to the worker are also shown. By comparing earlier criminal laws and the German legal system, an example was given of how to make the law effective. Through a criminological and victimological approach, data related to the criminal report for this criminal offense and the final outcome are presented. It turns out that this crime is extremely rare, but should be suspicious of the dark figures and the tendency to (not) reporting responsible.