Restaurateur given suspended jail term for wages offences
Updated at 5.59pm: A restaurant operator has been given a one-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, after being convicted of wage offences under the Employment Ordinance.
The prosecution case against Chan Wing-fai was undertaken by the Labour Department.
Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said it was first time a suspended jail sentence had been imposed on a director of an insolvent company for wage offences.
'We welcome the custodial sentence as this will deter unscrupulous employers from defaulting on wage payments,'' he said.
He said it also sent a strong message that company directors had a personal responsibility to ensure wages were paid to employees in accordance with the Employment Ordinance.
'The Labour Department will keep up its efforts to tackle wage offences to protect the interests of workers,' he said.
Chan Wing-fai is a company director of Wealth Rainbow Enterprises. The company operated and closed three restaurants, To Yuen, Sheung Hei and Sun Hei, consecutively at the same premises from August 2003 to April 2004. But it did not clear wages and termination payments to workers employed by the three restaurants.
The last restaurant, Sun Hai Seafood Restaurant, ceased operation in April last year. The Labour Department undertook the prosecution on behalf of three workers who came forward as prosecution witnesses for their wage arrears. The department prosecuted Mr Chan as evidence indicated that the wage offences were committed with his consent or connivance.
He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for one month, suspended for two years, at the Kowloon City Magistracy recently. He was also ordered to pay the outstanding wages through the court.
