Employer fined $68,600 for contravening Employment Ordinance
An employer was prosecuted by the Labour Department (LD) for violating requirements under the Employment Ordinance (EO). The employer pleaded guilty at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (December 30) and was fined a total sum of $68,600. The employer was also ordered to pay the employee concerned an outstanding sum of about $205,000.
The employer wilfully and without reasonable excuse contravened the requirements of the EO, failing to pay an employee's wages and payment in lieu of notice within seven days after the expiry of the wage periods and termination of employment, as well as holiday pay and annual leave pay within the statutory time limit, totalling over $171,000. The employer also failed to pay the awarded sum of about $205,000 in total to the employee within 14 days after the date set by the Labour Tribunal (LT).
"The ruling will disseminate a strong message to all employers that they have to pay wages to employees within the statutory time limit stipulated in the EO, as well as the sums awarded by the LT or the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board," a spokesman for the LD said.
"The LD will not tolerate these offences and will spare no effort in enforcing the law and safeguarding employees' statutory rights," the spokesman added.
Remarks by FS at media session (with photo/video)
The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan; the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, and the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau, together with the Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission, Ms Julia Leung, and the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr Eddie Yue, met the media this evening (April 7). Following are Mr Chan's remarks at the media session:
Reporter: What tools does the Government have to handle the situation of the market and will Hong Kong consider a national team investor equivalent to intervene? Should the markets keep dropping, what is the bottom line for the state of the market before countermeasures will be considered?
Financial Secretary: I think Julia has explained very clearly the situation in the Hong Kong stock market. Basically, the market has been functioning orderly. There are substantial selling but also buying interests. The spread between the two has been very tight, indicating that the buying power remains very strong.
Hong Kong is a free port, and we encourage capital and investors from different parts of the world to take part in our capital market. Over the years, we have been taking a number of measures to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of our capital market, no matter whether it is improving the listing regime, lowering the transaction costs, expanding the markets, attracting investors and capital from around the world, or offering new products such as the ETF (exchange-traded fund) listed on the Saudi stock exchange (and investing in the Hong Kong stock market). All in all, we will persistently and consistently push forward initiatives on various fronts. With an expanding market and more participants from different parts of the world, the liquidity and resilience of our market will be enhanced. The resilience of our market has been very strong. We do not think the current volatility in the market warrants the taking of any drastic measures.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Remarks by FS at media session (with photo/video) Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
