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The chef was unemployed two times last year and was dragged down by 100,000 yuan to apply for the debt owed fund for 10 months without compensation.

2020-01-21T11:16:13.389Z


The Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Societies recently received a hundred people's arrears of wages for help. The total amount of arrears of wages involved was more than 3.68 million yuan. Among them, some workers were owed wages for about one year. It is still unknown when they will get their salaries back. Master Guan, who served as a chef, was owed his wages for the first time in March last year. In November last year, his tea restaurant, located in Wan Chai, also closed because of frequent demonstrations. Master Guan was also owed wages again, and owed twice. The salary involved totaled nearly 100,000 yuan. For the first time in April, Master Guan applied for the fund owed, and has not recovered his salary for more than 10 months. He described the application of the fund owed as "complex procedures". After encountering arrears, he even ate only one day because of saving expenses. One meal, "sufficient enough to eat two meals." The AFL criticized that the current bankruptcy arrears protection fund failed to provide effective protection to employees who were owed in a timely manner, and urged the government to issue compensation for arrears to affected workers as soon as possible. Salary cap.


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Written by: Hou Cailin

2020-01-21 19:07

Last updated: 2020-01-21 19:10

The Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Societies recently received a hundred people's arrears of wages for help. The total amount of arrears of wages involved was more than 3.68 million yuan. Among them, some workers were owed wages for about one year. It is still unknown when they will get their salaries back. Master Guan, who served as a chef, was owed his wages for the first time in March last year. In November last year, his tea restaurant, located in Wan Chai, also closed because of frequent demonstrations. Master Guan was also owed wages again, and owed twice. The salary involved totaled nearly 100,000 yuan. For the first time in April, Master Guan applied for the fund owed, and has not recovered his salary for more than 10 months. He described the application of the fund owed as "complex procedures". After encountering arrears, he even ate only one day because of saving expenses. One meal, "sufficient enough to eat two meals."

The AFL criticized that the current bankruptcy arrears protection fund failed to provide effective protection to employees who were owed in a timely manner, and urged the government to issue compensation for arrears to affected workers as soon as possible. Salary cap.

Statistics from the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labor Associations in November showed that between March and November last year, more than 649 employees were laid off, including 140 who were owed wages by their employers, involving wages ranging from seven days to three months. The total amount of salary is more than 3.68 million, and those who are in arrears by employers are mainly catering employees.

Master Guan (third from left), who worked as a chef, was owed twice last year, which led him to describe the complicated process of applying for the fund. (Photo by Hou Cailin)

Twice arrears of wages like a nightmare Applying for a fund owed fund has not been paid for 10 months

Mr. Guan is 55 years old. At the end of March last year, the restaurant where he worked as a chef closed and was owed nearly a month's salary of 30,000 yuan. In November last year, he worked as a chef at Wan Chai Tea Restaurant, during which time the restaurant was closed because of frequent demonstrations. Mr. Guan was again owed salary, involving about 70,000 yuan.

He first applied for the Fund Delinquency in early April and has not been paid compensation for the arrears of wages for nearly 10 months. It is not until after he has called the Labor Tribunal about 20 times that he is expected to receive the first arrears of pay at the end of February. During the two applications for the fund, he spent about 4,000 yuan on photocopying documents and other expenses. Guan described the complicated procedures for applying for the arrears fund. "First, we must save money to apply for (the employer's) bankruptcy. We may not be able to save any money." And Mr. Guan's second arrears of wages exceeded the upper limit of 36,000 yuan in advances that the arrears fund can pay. , He lamented that he must be "sufficiently" paid. Master Guan pointed out that he hoped that the government could advance the employees' arrears to resolve their urgent needs after the court ordered the employer to go bankrupt.

Guan described the two cases of wage arrears as the "start of a nightmare." Both his mother and younger brother are chronically ill. He is the backbone of the family's economy. After suffering arrears of wages, he faces heavy economic pressure and also needs to save living expenses. Eating only one meal, "there is enough bile to eat two meals", and there are "lots of boxes of doll noodles" in the house, so the wife has to work to help the family.

Lin Zhensheng (first from the right), chairman of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Association, criticized that the current Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund failed to provide effective protection to wage-earning employees in a timely manner. (Photo by Hou Cailin)

AFL: Urges government to simplify application process

The AFL states that the current Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund cannot provide effective protection to employees who are owed wages, and that they need to go through a number of procedures when applying for compensation for arrears of wages. After a worker is owed wages, he must first file a case in the Labor Department, and then proceed to the Labour Tribunal. After obtaining the Labor Tribunal's ruling, he must file a bankruptcy or winding-up petition to the employer before the court can formally apply for compensation for arrears in the Fund . The AFL describes the application process as having numerous barriers, and urges the government to issue the arrears to affected workers as soon as possible, and at the same time, actively study to simplify the application process for compensation for arrears of wages.

The Federation ’s chairman, Lin Zhensheng, criticized that the current limit of ex-gratia payments to the Fund is a total of 36,000 wages in arrears, or 9,000 yuan per month, which is much lower than the normal salary level. He urged the government to base the median wages of employees in Hong Kong. Number adjustment cap.

The AFL urges the government to issue outstanding debts to affected workers as soon as possible, and at the same time take the initiative to study and simplify the application procedures for compensation for arrears of wages. (Photo by Hou Cailin)

The labor union received over a hundred people's wages in arrears for help totaling 3.6 million yuan

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Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-01-21

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