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A beauty salon and a transport company were fined today (July, 23)respectively $12,000 and $7,500 for failing to enrol their staff into Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) schemes.

In the first case, Chan Ching-yin and So Ka-man began working at the Camellia Beauty and Slimming Centre before 1 December 2000. Both of them left the company on 26 February 2001. According to the MPF legislation, employers were required to enrol employees in their employ for 60 days into MPF schemes. Chan and So reported the case to the MPFA after they left the service of the beauty salon. After an investigation into the case, two charges were laid in accordance to s.7(1) of the MPFSO.

In mitigation, the representative of the beauty salon said the two employees handed in their resignations in late January and left service in February. The company did not realise that it had to enrol resigning staff into MPF schemes.

Special Magistrate Mr Chan Yan Tong pointed out that the defendants' excuse was unacceptable. He said there was extensive publicity on the System and employers just needed to call the MPFA hotline if they had any queries. The beauty salon was fined $6,000 each for the two summonses.

In the second case, Wai Kwong Transport Company Limited was charged with failing to enrol employee Fong Wah-cheung into a registered MPF scheme. Fong had been a driver with the company since 1994. The defendant pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $7,500.

End/Monday, July 23, 2001

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