Suspended term 'will deter wage offenders'
A restaurateur who opened and closed three restaurants under different names at the same location has received a suspended jail sentence for not paying his employees back wages.
Chan Wing-fai is the first company director to receive a custodial sentence for wage offences, which have been previously dealt with by fines.
A Kowloon City Court magistrate handed Chan the one-month term, suspended for two years, on Tuesday for not paying $ 36,500 in salaries to three of his former employees.
Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Matthew Cheung Kin -chung said the case would set a precedent.
"It's a landmark judgment," he said. "We welcome the custodial sentence as this will deter unscrupulous employers from defaulting on wage payments. It also sends a strong message that company directors have a personal responsibility to ensure wages are paid."
Chan was a director of a limited company, Wealth Rainbow Enterprises, which opened and closed three restaurants at 15 Broadway in Mei Foo between August 2003 and April last year.
They were called To Yuen, Sheung Hei and Sun Hai.
Chan was convicted because he knew the workers had not been paid but did nothing to rectify the situation. The maximum penalty is a $ 200,000 fine and one year's jail.
Some 118 workers were affected by the closure of the restaurants. They have sought $ 1 million in ex-gratia payments from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund.
The three employees from the latest closure in April at Sun Hai Restaurant acted as prosecution witnesses in the Labour Department's case against Chan.
Mr Cheung said it was difficult to prosecute company directors because former employees needed to take time out to attend court.
The Labour Department last year saw 13 per cent more convictions, to 504, over wage offence summonses, compared with 2003. The largest fine was $ 140,000.
Separately, lawmakers yesterday urged the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department to keep 387 temporary workers it planned to dismiss.
A red-faced Wong Kwok-hing, who represents the labour constituency, slapped his desk at the manpower panel and scolded government officials for not implementing the chief executive's commitment to extend the employment of 10,000 temporary workers.
"We legislators are begging you to spare 400 positions," he said.
Various government departments have agreed to keep 10,083 of the 11,754 existing temporary positions.
Deputy Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene Donald Tong Chi-keung said 387 of these jobs would be cut from his department because they were no longer needed.
He has, however, agreed to consider extending the jobs and will give lawmakers a reply today.