Restaurant closes for second time owing pay

A Mei Foo restaurant that closed before the Lunar New Year shut its doors again yesterday, with 30 workers owed at least $500,000 in unpaid wages.

Staff arriving at work yesterday morning discovered the Sun Hei Restaurant at Mei Foo Sun Chuen was closed and the main gate locked.

Senior employees with keys later allowed their colleagues into the premises.

The workers then staged a protest inside the restaurant but were disappointed when the owner failed to show up.

They were unable to contact him later in the day and the 30 or so workers reported the case to police and the Labour Department.

They complained they had not been paid since early last month and estimated they were owed $500,000.