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An employer was sentenced at the Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts today (January 22) to nine months' jail for underpaying wages to her foreign domestic helper. The prosecution was initiated by the Labour Department.
During the employment of the foreign domestic helper, the employer failed to pay wages to her helper according to the minimum allowable wage of $3,270 as set out in the employment contract signed by both parties in 2005. The total offence amount was $13,500. The defendant pleaded not guilty. She was convicted of the offence on January 8, 2009, after a full trial on December 30 and 31, 2008.
According to Section 23 of the Employment Ordinance, wages due upon expiry of the last day of the wage period shall be paid as soon as practicable but in any case not later than seven days thereafter.
A spokesman for the Labour Department welcomed the judgment, adding that it was the second case this year in which a jail sentence had been imposed on an employer/director or responsible person of a company for a wage offence. It would send a strong message to employers that they should ensure wages were paid to employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance.
"Employers and company directors/responsible persons being sentenced to imprisonment for committing wage offences show that the courts are attaching more importance to such offences. Employers should not defy the law. The Labour Department reminds all employers of foreign domestic helpers not to pay less than the minimum allowable wage to their helpers. An employer who commits such an offence would be liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a maximum penalty of a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years.
"Employees, including foreign domestic helpers, who are owed wages should promptly report to the Labour Department to protect their interests," he said.
The spokesman urged employees who were owed wages to call the department's complaints hotline on 2815 2200 immediately.
Ends/Thursday, January 22, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:11
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