894
THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, JUNE 21, 1940.
Provision for case of persous em- ployed by piece-work where a minimum time-rate
but no general minimum
piece-rate
has been fixed.
9 Edw. 7, c. 22, s. 3.
Prevention
of ay ision.
9 Ew 7.c. 229
(2) Where an employer who is charged with an offence against this Ordinance proves to the satisfaction of the court that he has used due diligence to enforce the execution of the Ordinance and that the offence was in fact committed by his agent or some other person without his knowledge, consent, or connivance, he shall, in the event of the convic- tion of that agent or other person for the offence, be exempt from any fine in respect of the offence, without prejudice, however, to the power of the court under sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 5 to adjudge him to pay any sum which appears to the court to be due to the person employed on account of wages,
(3) Where the immediate employer of any worker to whom a minimum rate of wages applies is himself in the employment of some other person and that worker is employed on the premises of that other person, that other person shall for the purposes of the provisions of this Ordin- ance relating to the penalty for not paying wages in accord- ance with the minimum rate be deemed to be the employer of the worker jointly with the immediate employer.
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7.-(1) An employer shall, in cases where persons are employed on piece-work and a general minimum time-rate but no general minimum piece-rate has been fixed, be deemed to pay wages at less than the minimum rate--
(a) in cases where a special minimum piece-rate has been fixed under the provisions of this Ordinance for persons employed by that employer, if the rate of wages paid is less than that special minimum piece-rate; and
(b) in cases where a special minimum piece-rate has not been so fixed, unless he shows that the piece-rate of wages paid would yield, in the circumstances of the case, to an ordinary worker at least the same amount of money as the basis rate.
rate
(2) For the purpose of this section the expression "basis means the general minimum time-rate or, where a rate (in this Ordinance referred to as a "piece-work basis time-rate '') has been fixed by the Governor in Council for the purpose of being substituted for the general minimum time-rate as the basis rate, the rate so fixed.
The Governor in Council may fix a piece-work basis time-rate in any case in which, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, he is of opinion that the general minimum time-rate does not form a proper basis for the purposes of paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of this section, and a piece-work basis time-rate may be higher or lower than the general minimum time-rate and may be fixed so as to apply universally to the trade or so as to apply to any special process in the work of the trade or to any special area, or to any class of workers in the trade or to any class of workers in any special process or in any special area.
8. Any shopkeeper, dealer or trader, who by way of trade makes any arrangement express or implied with any worker in pursuance of which the worker performs any work for which a minimum rate of wages has been fixed under this Ordinance, shall be deemed for the purposes of this Ordinance to be the employer of the worker, and the net
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