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Wan Fa was subsequently charged under ECO with three counts of failing to pay to the injured employee periodical payment within seven days after the date on which the compensation was due; one count each of failing to give notice to the Commissioner for Labour in the prescribed form within 14 days of the accident involving the injured employee and failing to take out insurance policy issued by an insurer for the full amount of liability of the employer.
The company was convicted of the offences in early January and was fined a total of $70,000, of which $20,000 was imposed on failing to provide insurance cover for the worker it employed.
Mrs Chan pointed out that the maximum penalty for failure to take out an insurance policy for an employee under Section 40 (1) of ECO is a $25,000 fine plus one year's imprisonment on summary conviction.
"In 1995, we secured 513 convicted summonses under this Section of the ECO, an increase of 182 successful cases or 55 per cent when compared with the figures in 1994. The total amount of fines had also increased substantially from $930,700 in 1994 to $1,561,262 in 1995," she said.
Mrs Chan said the objective for employers to provide their employees with insurance cover was to ensure that an employer could fulfil his legal obligation to compensate his employees who were injured or die in a work-related accident.
This statutory requirement applies to employers hiring full-time and part-time employees as well as domestic helpers, she said.
"An employer must observe this legal requirement even though he employs only one employee," Mrs Chan stressed.
End