Hong Kong director gets 240-hour community service for EO breaches

A company director in Hong Kong has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service for violations related to wages on the Employment Ordinance (EO).

The sentence follows the guilty plea of the company director at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts for failing release the wages of an employee after their termination of employment, and for failing to pay the awarded sum to another employee within the proper timeframe.

A spokesperson from the Labour Department said the judgement sends a strong message to all employers, directors, responsible officers of companies that they must pay wages to employees within a statutory limit stipulated in the EO.

They also have to pay the sums awarded by the Labour Tribunal or the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board.

"The LD will not tolerate these offences and will spare no effort in enforcing the law and safeguarding employees' statutory rights," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Wages violations by the company

In a statement, the Labour Department said the company failed to pay an employee their wages totalling about $1.05 million within seven days after the expiry of wage periods and termination of employment contract.

The firm also failed to pay another employee an awarded sum of $750,000 within 14 days after the date set by the Labour Tribunal.

The company director was prosecuted and convicted for his consent, connivance,or neglect in the offences.

Hong Kong's Employment Ordinance states that an employer shall pay all termination payments, except for severance payment, to the employee "as soon as practicable and in any case not later than seven days after the date of termination or expiry of contract."

"An employer who wilfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay termination payments when they become due is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $350,000 and to imprisonment for three years," Hong Kong's EO said.