Two firms fined over MPF, wages
The government yesterday reminded employers to obey the law and pay wages and MPF contributions according to regulations, after two companies were convicted and fined for wage-related offences in separate cases yesterday.
In one of the cases, the employer was fined $39,000 at Kwun Tong Court after being found guilty of contravening the MPF Ordinance.
CC & E International Media was convicted of 12 counts of failing to make MPF contributions within the prescribed time for the period covering April 2003 to March 2004.
The company, which did not attend the hearing, was fined $6,000 for the first count and $3,000 on the other 11 counts. In the second case, also heard at the Kwun Tong Court, Hang Fai (Hong Kong-China) Transportation was fined $14,000 for failing to pay an employee.
The court ruled that Fong Kwong-ming failed to pay wages to an employee within seven days of the expiry of the wage period and the termination of employment.
The prosecution was launched by the Labour Department, and a department spokesman stressed that the maximum penalty for wage offences had increased from March 30. The fine was upped from $200,000 to $350,000 and imprisonment from one year to three years.
