************************************************
A food company was fined $90,000 by Sha Tin Magistrates' Court today (July 12) for employing persons not lawfully employable.
During an anti-illegal workers operation on October 7, 2010, four Chinese females who had entered Hong Kong as visitors were found working at a Japanese restaurant in Mongkok.
Business registration records confirmed that the said restaurant was owned by a food company (the defendant company). The person in charge of the restaurant confirmed that the illegal workers were employed as staff. Employee records were retrieved, including three copies of Hong Kong identity cards (HKICs) and an employment form with a HKIC number. Immigration records confirmed that all of the HKIC numbers were forged.
The four illegal workers were each sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment earlier for using and being in possession of a forged identity card and breaching their conditions of stay.
The defendant company was charged with four counts of being the employer of a person not lawfully employable. It pleaded guilty and was fined HK$90,000.
The spokesman appealed to employers not to employ illegal workers, warning that it was an offence to employ people who were not lawfully employable. The maximum penalty is a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years. To deter unlawful employment, the High Court laid down a sentencing guideline in 2004 reaffirming that it was a serious offence to employ someone who was not legally employable, and the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence.
"Visitors are not allowed to take up employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years' imprisonment," an Immigration Department spokesman said.
The spokesman also warned that it was an offence to use or possess a forged identity card. Offenders are liable to prosecution and a maximum penalty of a $100,000 fine and up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Ends/Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:15
NNNN
