Employment Ordinance

(1)
If—
(a)
an award of a tribunal provides, in whole or in part, for the payment by an employer of any specified entitlement (whether or not the specified entitlement is payable only on any condition being met); and
(Amended
21 of 2018 s. 10
)
(b)
the employer wilfully and without reasonable excuse fails to
pay—
(i)
any sum payable under the award (other than a sum to which subparagraph (ii) applies) within 14 days after the date of the award; or
(ii)
any sum payable under the award that is, by the terms of the award, payable otherwise than on the date of the award, within 14 days after the date on which the sum is, by those terms, payable,
the employer commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $350,000 and to imprisonment for 3 years.
(2)
A reference in subsection
(1
)(
b
)(
i)
or (ii) to any sum payable under an award
includes—
(a)
any part of a sum payable under the award; and
(b)
in the case of a sum payable by instalments, any instalment or part of an instalment.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (1),
if—
(a)
an award of a tribunal provides for the payment of a sum but does not indicate whether or not that sum includes any specified entitlement; and
(b)
the claim to which the award relates consists, in whole or in part, of any specified entitlement,
then, unless there is evidence to the contrary, the award is to be treated as providing for the payment of a specified entitlement.
(4)
Subsection (5) applies to an award that is an order for reinstatement or re-engagement made under
section 32N
(as varied under
section 32PA
or
32PC
, if applicable) (which order (as so varied, if applicable) is referred to in subsection (5) as the
order
).
(Added
21 of 2018 s. 10
)
(5)
Where the order specifies a date (
specified payment date
) as the date by which the employer must pay to the employee a sum if the employer fails to reinstate or re-engage the employee on the terms specified in the order by the date so specified, the specified payment date is, on that failure, the date on which the sum is, by the terms of the award, payable for the purposes of subsection
(1
)(
b
)(
ii)
.
(Added
21 of 2018 s. 10
)