The Legal Aid Department has come under fire after a man was forced to wait more than four years before he received all the $59,000 he was awarded by the courts in compensation for unpaid wages.
Trade unionists claim Tariq Mehmood's case is just the tip of the iceberg and many more people are left waiting for years because the department has to collect its legal fees before a payout can be made.
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions claimed Legal Aid payment delays were increasing and accused the Government of not trying hard enough to chase up payments from errant employers.
'More and more employers know how to abuse the payment system, they know that the department does not chase them hard and they can delay the payment,' the confederation's vice-chairwoman, Cheung Lai-ha, said.
Since January, the confederation has received five similar cases where employees have been waiting from two to nine months for payments after their disputes were settled.
Mr Mehmood's nightmare - the worst to have come to the confederation's attention so far - began when he sought help from the department to fight for his unpaid $59,216 in wages from his employer, a fast-food restaurant.