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Director of Meytic Limited trading as Cosmo King Restaurant Mr Tsui Chun-po was fined $11,000 today (July 14) at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts for wage offences under the Employment Ordinance. The prosecution was launched by the Labour Department.
The director failed to pay wages to two employees within seven days of the expiry of the wage period and the termination of employment as required by the ordinance. The amount of wages involved was about $27,000. The director was also ordered to clear the outstanding wages via the court.
Section 64B of the Employment Ordinance stipulates that where any wage payment offence committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, the director, manager, secretary or other similar officer shall be guilty of a like offence. At present, the maximum penalty has been raised to a fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years upon conviction.
Company directors had a personal responsibility to ensure that wages are paid to employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance, a spokesman for the Labour Department said.
The Labour Department will not tolerate wage offences and will spare no effort in bringing to justice directors and employers who defy the law.
Ends/Friday, July 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 19:41
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