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Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung has vowed that there will be strict enforcement against employers who willfully violate the Minimum Wage Ordinance that becomes law on Sunday.

He brushed aside a suggestion for a grace period before implementation of the law in full, only saying that the government intended to be flexible during the early stage.

The idea of a buffer period had been proposed by a group of small and medium enterprise (SME) owners who, in the company of Liberal Party Chairman Miriam Lau, met with Cheung Thursday.

To allow employers and employees to adapt to the law during the early stage, the SME owners have suggested a six-month buffer period, and asked that during that time, the government refrain from prosecuting employers who violated the law inadvertently.

After the meeting, Lau quoted the labor secretary as saying that employers will not break the law as long as they paid their staff HK$28 an hour.

As for pay for meal breaks and weekly rest days, those issues are subject to mutual agreement between employers and employees, Lau said.

"So people should not say we are unscrupulous employers simply because we do not pay for the meal break and rest days, because the law does not require us to do so," she said.

Lau said the government's example of subsidizing outsourced cleaning service, thus to guarantee workers paid meal breaks and rest days, will exert pressure on other SMEs.

"The government, statutory bodies and large enterprises win the reputation for being good employers, but small companies who cannot afford pay for meal breaks and rest day will be labeled as bad employers," she said.

Speaking after a public function, Cheung said he understood some SMEs may find it hard to bear the statutory minimum wage.

"There is no such thing as buffer period for the government," he stressed.

"But for any law, the government will be flexible in the early stage of the implementation. If the employers are simply careless or unfamiliar with the law, we will not take action. But we will pursue stringent action against employers who willfully break the law."

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) ridiculed the proposed buffer period calling it "unrealistic", and, in view of the fact that it had the support of lawmakers, "absurd".

Cheng Yiu-tong, president of the HKFTU, said he is pleased the statutory minimum wage will come into force Sunday.

He noted the labor movement has been striving for such law for many years to protect the lowest-paid workers and the ones with the least bargaining power.

Admitting some employers will face higher operating costs, he said the real influence is not that serious for large enterprises.

"Employers who have been paying for meal breaks and rest days should continue to do so, unless they are unscrupulous, but those (employees) who do not now have meal break or rest day pay should not have any misunderstanding or false hope," Cheng said.

China Daily

(HK Edition 04/29/2011 page1)