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The owner of Chan Shun Kei Construction Works, Mr Chan Shun-kei, was sentenced to eight weeks' imprisonment, suspended for one year, after being convicted of wage offences under the Employment Ordinance at the Shatin Magistrates' Courts today (March 3). The prosecution was taken out by the Labour Department.
The Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, welcomed the court sentence and said, "This was the fourth case in the past 12 months a suspended jail sentence has been imposed on an employer for wage offences. This shows that the courts have been attaching more importance to wage offence cases. Employers should not breach the law."
In 2002, the employer in this case failed to pay wages to an employee and the case was referred to the Labour Tribunal through the Labour Department for adjudication. The Labour Tribunal ordered the employer to pay all outstanding wages by instalments to the employee. However, the employer defaulted payment of the Labour Tribunal's award.
In 2005 the employee reported the case to the Labour Department and promised to be the prosecution witness to testify in court. Evidence collected by the Labour Department showed that the employer had failed to pay wages to the employee within seven days of the expiry of the wage period as required by the Employment Ordinance. The total amount involved was two months' wages, or $15,750. The employer was thus prosecuted by the Labour Department. Before the court handed down the judgment, the employer has cleared the outstanding wages.
"Employers have the responsibility for paying wages under the Employment Ordinance. The Labour Department has adopted a multi-pronged approach in deterring wage offences, including stepping up inspections and prosecutions.
"To achieve a greater deterrent effect, the Legislative Council has raised the maximum penalty of a wage offence from a fine of $200,000 and imprisonment for one year to $350,000 and imprisonment for three years," he continued.
Mr Cheung stressed that the Labour Department was determined to carry out enforcement action under the Ordinance. Last year, 587 summonses for wage offences were convicted, representing an increase of 16% over 2004. The number of summonses in the construction sector was 141, representing an increase of 22% over 2004.
The Labour Department urged employees who are owed wages to call its complaint hotline on 2815 2200 immediately.
According to Section 23 and 25 of the Employment Ordinance, wages must be paid as soon as practicable within seven days of the expiry of the wage period and upon termination of employment. Any employer who breaches the relevant sections of the law deliberately and without reasonable excuse will be liable to prosecution.
According to section 109B and C of the Criminal Procedure Ordinance, a suspended sentence shall be treated as a sentence of imprisonment. If an offender is convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment committed during the operational period of a suspended sentence, the court may order that the suspended sentence be taken effect.
Ends/Friday, March 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 20:16
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