Probe launched into shipping firm that abandoned 11 seamen
The Labour Department has launched an investigation into the shipping company that employed 11 seamen who have been stranded in Hong Kong since January.
Ten of them won $165,000 in back pay in a landmark ruling last month against Kam Bao Shipping and its presumed owner, Lee Kam-shu.
The first instalment was to have been paid on March 24, but the men said they had yet to see any money. The claimants included eight Filipinos and two Indonesians. The Indonesians left for their home country a week after the tribunal victory. An 11th seaman, a Filipino, left in February without completing the tribunal process.
One of the eight Filipinos left Hong Kong at the weekend, disappointed and penniless, and it was unclear if he could still collect the money owed to him.
The other seven Filipinos, who have been allowed to stay until April 27, are scheduled for Legal Aid Department means-testing tomorrow.
They are seeking legal aid to make a claim under the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Ordinance.
A spokeswoman for the Labour Department said the 11 original claimants had approached the Labour Relations Division for help on January 25.
'Through conciliation, the employer initially agreed to settle the claimants' wage claims in instalments, but subsequently failed to honour his promise. At the request of the claimants, the case was referred to the Labour Tribunal for adjudication,' she said.
While the claimants were referred to the Legal Aid Department to initiate a bankruptcy petition against Kam Bao, they were assisted in applying for ex gratia payments from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund, she said.
The Labour Department said: 'The claimants were [also] invited to act as prosecution witnesses for criminal investigations into any suspected offences under the Employment Ordinance.'
The Filipinos said they each paid between 30,000 pesos ($4,300) and 90,000 pesos to two Filipinos who claimed to be recruiting for Kam Bao.
When they arrived in Hong Kong on tourist visas they were each charged a further $5,000 by a local man, to be deducted from their salaries, and taken to the ship, outside Hong Kong waters off Lamma Island. The seamen said they only received the first month's pay.
