An employer has been fined $12,000 at Sha Tin Magistracy for sickness allowance offences.

Lau Shing-po trading as Luen Yau Company failed to pay the full sickness allowance of $11,000 to an employee on the normal pay day.

Under Section 33 of the Employment Ordinance, sickness allowance is a sum equivalent to four-fifths of the normal wages which the employee would have earned if he had worked on the sickness days, the Labour Department said. 

According to the ordinance, wages means all remuneration, earnings, allowances and commission which is of a non-gratuitous and recurrent nature, tips and service charges, however designated or calculated, payable to an employee in respect of work done or work to be done.

If overtime pay is of a constant character or its monthly average over the past 12 months is not less than 20% of the average monthly wages of the employee during the same period, the employer should include the overtime pay in calculating the sickness allowance.

The Employment Ordinance also stipulates that an employee can accumulate paid sickness days after having been employed under a continuous contract.

Paid sickness days are accumulated at the rate of two paid sickness days for each completed month of the employee's employment during the first 12 months of employment, and four paid sickness days for each completed month of employment thereafter. Paid sickness days can be accumulated up to a maximum of 120 days.

An employer should pay sickness allowance to an employee if the employee has accumulated sufficient number of paid sickness days; the sick leave is supported by an appropriate medical certificate and the sick leave taken is not less than four consecutive days.

Any employer who fails to do so without reasonable excuse is liable to a maximum fine of $50,000.