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Among the 21 people arrested, there were 18 women and three men, of whom six were Two Way Permit holders, one was an illegal immigrant from China, four were foreign domestic helpers, three were imported workers, one was a visitor and the remaining six were Hong Kong residents.
All the Two Way Permit holders, foreign domestic helpers and imported workers were arrested at places of work. They were suspected of having taken up illegal employment or overstayed in Hong Kong. Five of the Hong Kong residents were suspected of being employers of the arrestees and the remaining one was a suspected aider and abettor.
On the labour front, inspectors of the Labour Department visited 1,312 establishments to weed out any illegal immigrants who may be working there and to check that employers fulfil their legal obligation of keeping proper records of their employees.
A total of 3,559 employees had their proof of identity checked and 12 establishments were found not able to provide a record of employees for inspection.
The spokesman reminded employers that they could be fined up to $250,000 and jailed for up to three years if they were found to be employing illegal immigrants.
End
Statutory holiday reminder
The Labour Department today (Saturday) reminded employers to designate either the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival (December 22) or Christmas Day (December 25) as one of the 11 statutory holidays for employees.
Under the Employment Ordinance, all employees, irrespective of their wage levels, are entitled to statutory holidays and must be paid for the day off if they have worked continuously for the same employer for three months or longer before the statutory holiday.