Major Hong Kong restaurant chain sued over failure to pay HK$3.1 million in staff pension contributions on time

Hong Kong’s pension regulator has taken a catering industry leader’s restaurant chain to court over HK$3.1 million (US$397,120) in unpaid pension fund contributions owed to its 980 employees.

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority said on Thursday it had filed a writ a day earlier against Kam Kee Holdings for the overdue payments from the first quarter of the year.

“Since March this year, we have received 15 complaints from employees about the company failing to pay for their MPF in February and March,” the authority said.

The chain, which operates 38 restaurants and has closed seven this year because of the economic downturn, is run by Ray Chui Man-wai, its chairman and also the president of catering body the Institute of Dining Art.

The authority added it was checking the group’s MPF payments for April and would file another writ if the required contributions had not been made.

“It is the statutory responsibility of every employer to enrol their employees in an MPF scheme and make contributions on time,” it said.

The authority said it attached “great importance to the detection of overdue MPF payments owed to employees … it will actively follow up non-compliant cases in a bid to recover the amount”.

The Labour Department said about 60 employees from the restaurant chain had issued claims concerning unpaid wages and other benefits, adding officials would provide the appropriate assistance.

The Post has contacted Kam Kee for comment.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, estimated earlier that more than 700 restaurants had closed in recent months.

Much of the downturn was blamed on more Hong Kong diners heading across the border.

But Wong said the closures had been partly balanced by the opening of 400 new restaurants in the city.