Security guard claims contract excluded minimum wage law
78-year-old says he was paid just HK$13 an hour, well below the HK$28 minimum, with no leave
A 78-year-old security guard is seeking compensation of more than HK$222,000 to make up for wages he says he is owed under minimum wage and other employment legislation.
Despite the minimum wage law having been in force for more than a year, Lam Seck-chai said his employer paid him less than HK$5,000 a month, or about HK$13 an hour.
Lam, who left his job as a security guard in a Sham Shu Po building last month, lodged a complaint with the Labour Department yesterday afternoon. Apart from being deprived of the minimum wage of HK$28 an hour, he said that in the seven years and nine months he had worked under a contract for the Incorporated Owners of Wah Kiu Mansion, he was not permitted any leave. Whenever he took leave he had to pay another person to cover his position.
He is seeking more than HK$222,000 for deducted salary, holidays, severance and long service, with help from the Society for Community Organisation.
The department said it met Lam yesterday and would help.
"I didn't dare complain," he said. "They would have used some excuse to lay me off. There's no other job I can find at this age."