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Sing Pao Newspaper Management Limited was convicted and fined $156,000 in Kwun Tong Magistrates' Courts today (August 27) for wage and annual leave pay offences under the Employment Ordinance. The court also ordered Sing Pao to clear about $20,000 owed to two employees. The prosecution was taken out by the Labour Department.
The employer failed to pay wages to 18 employees totalling about $340,000 and annual leave pay of about $6,000 to one employee.
According to Sections 23 and 25 of the ordinance, wages due upon expiry of the last day of the wage period or upon termination of employment shall be paid as soon as practicable, but not later than seven days. Any employer who fails to do so wilfully and without reasonable excuse is liable to a maximum fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.
According to Section 41D of the ordinance, annual leave pay due upon termination of employment shall be paid as soon as practicable, but not later than seven days. Any employer who fails to do so without reasonable excuse is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000.
A spokesman for the Labour Department said that the department took a serious view of wage offences and would not tolerate wilful acts in defaulting wages. No effort would be spared on prosecuting employers who defied the law. In 2006, there were 785 convictions for wage offences, up 34% as compared to the figure in 2005. In the first seven months of 2007, there were 532 such convictions, up 35% compared to the figure for the same period in 2006.
Employees who are owed wages should call the Labour Department's complaint hotline, 2815 2200.
Ends/Monday, August 27, 2007
Issued at HKT 18:24
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