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In response to the late payment of wages by Asia Television Limited (ATV) to its employees, a spokesman for the Labour Department (LD) said today (February 4) that the department is highly concerned about the incident and has been maintaining contact with ATV﷿s management and urging them to pay wages in a timely manner.
Referring to the remarks made by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media session today, the spokesman reiterated that, "It is incumbent on ATV as an employer to pay wages to employees on time. ATV should clear the overdue wages owed to their staff promptly, especially when the Chinese New Year is approaching. The claim by ATV's management that wage payment is not an issue of top priority is totally unacceptable."
The LD has written again today to ATV, cautioning its Directors and Chief Operating Officer and urging them to pay wages to employees on time, as well as emphasising the consequences of contravening the Employment Ordinance (EO).
"As Mr Cheung has pointed out, the LD will continue to closely monitor the latest developments. The LD will render appropriate assistance to needy employees in the aspects of employment benefits and employment services, and will take follow up action proactively against any offences under the EO," the spokesman said.
Employees may call the LD's dedicated employment rights and benefits hotline for ATV employees (Tel: 2929 4065) for enquiries. They may also approach the office of the LD's Labour Relations Division in Sha Tin directly for assistance. Some employees have registered their claims with the LD, which is rendering them assistance.
ATV employees seeking jobs may call the LD's employment services dedicated hotline (Tel: 2654 1429) or visit the LD's job centres. The LD has organised briefings in the past for ATV's affected employees to brief them on their statutory rights and benefits, as well as on the employment services provided by the LD. The LD can arrange such briefings again if the employees consider it necessary.
As regards employment benefits, the spokesman pointed out that under the EO, an employer should pay wages or termination compensation within seven days from the last day of the wage period or upon termination of employment. Any employer failing to do so willfully and without reasonable excuse commits an offence. If the wage offence is committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of the directors, managers or other similar officers of corporate bodies, these responsible persons will be liable for the like offences. The penalty will be a maximum fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years upon conviction.
The spokesman added that as to the wage offences committed by ATV, the LD has launched four rounds of prosecution against ATV and its director, and a total of 204 summonses were laid by the LD. ATV was fined a cumulative total of $1,070,000, and the director concerned was fined a total of $150,000.
In addition, the spokesman said that in initiating criminal prosecution against wage offences, the LD needs to conduct detailed investigation into each case to collect evidence and invite the employees concerned to act as prosecution witnesses. Prosecution can only be taken with sufficient evidence collected and legal advice sought. The time required for investigation and prosecution of offences varies with a number of factors, such as the complexity of individual cases, the number of defendants and witnesses involved, and whether there is conflicting evidence among the parties concerned.
The LD commenced criminal investigation immediately as soon as it was informed of the repeated late payment of wages by ATV in September 2015. Efforts included deploying staff to ATV's head office for investigation every month, examining wage payment and employment records, interviewing employees and responsible persons of the company at the scene, and collecting evidence. The LD is seeking legal advice at the moment regarding some prosecution cases on possible wage offences involving ATV. The department is still closely monitoring the status of ATV's payment of wages to its employees for the months of December 2015 and January 2016.
LD officers conducted inspections on January 8 and 14 at the same place to conduct proactive investigation and collect evidence from the employee and management side. The LD deployed officers to ATV's head office in Tai Po again today to contact the employees and conduct investigation regarding the wage payment of December 2015. If there is sufficient evidence to prove that the failure to effect wage payment to employees by the employer or management has been willful and without reasonable excuse, and subject to availability of employees willing to act as witnesses, the LD will strictly enforce the law and initiate prosecution actions.
Ends/Thursday, February 4, 2016
Issued at HKT 19:26
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