Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Maternity leave

Legal area

Court

16 Aug 2019

WONG CHING YEE v. WAI SHUK YIN

Citation

[2019] HKDC 1104
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ3187/2015

Court found the natural and ordinary meanings: parts of the Facebook posts imputed repeated harassment and refusal to pay maternity leave and alleged unlawful conduct; the Shop/e‑Notice imputed the plaintiff disregarded customers' interests. On the facts the defendant proved substantially true that the plaintiff had behaved unreasonably in pressuring/harassing the defendant during maternity period and had refused to authorize payment of maternity leave pay; the court further found the intellectual property in the products belonged to the company and the plaintiff had competing conduct amounti…
15 Nov 2007

RE AFK HONG KONG LTD

Citation

RE AFK HONG KONG LTD
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCW435/2006

Payments under section 15(2)(b) of the Employment Ordinance do not constitute "accrued holiday remuneration" under section 265(1)(cd) of the Companies Ordinance; such payments are effectively wages (or treated as wages under s265(5C)) and therefore, given the statutory caps on preferential wages, only the entitlement properly characterised as s15(2)(b) (HK$21,000) is preferential and the balance remains unsecured; liquidators' classification is upheld and the application to vary is dismissed.
30 May 2006

LAM WING LAI v. Y T CHENG (CHING TAI) LTD

Citation

LAM WING LAI v. Y T CHENG (CHING TAI) LTD
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP718/2006

Leave to appeal was refused because the defendant failed to demonstrate that the trial judge's accepted finding of the conversation on 23 September 2002 was contrary to the evidence or otherwise vitiated; appellate interference with credibility findings requires a demonstrable error which was not shown here.
2 Mar 2005

SUN MIN v. HONG KONG MING WAH SHIPPING CO LTD

Citation

SUN MIN v. HONG KONG MING WAH SHIPPING CO LTD
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV37/2004

The Court held that on the findings of fact the defendant, by serving notices of transfer and insisting on the transfer despite the claimant's pregnancy, effectively terminated the claimant's continuous contract of employment with the defendant not in accordance with section 9; the appeal and the application to adduce fresh evidence were dismissed and the presiding officer's findings were upheld.
26 Feb 2001

CHANG YING KWAN v. WYETH (HK) LTD

Citation

CHANG YING KWAN v. WYETH (HK) LTD
Court

District Court
Case number

DCEO10/1999

On the balance of probabilities the judge found the employer took the 23 October 1997 ultimatum and subsequent differential treatment with pregnancy and the EOC complaint in mind; the pregnancy was a reason for the ultimatum and reporting requirements, and the written warning and denial of the 1998 salary increase were acts of victimisation. The treatment amounted to constructive dismissal; employer liable for unlawful pregnancy discrimination and victimisation, with damages to be assessed later.
15 Aug 1990

NG WAI YU AND OTHERS v. CHONG HOU YUE FORMERLY T/A EVER RICH KNITTING FACTORY

Citation

NG WAI YU AND OTHERS v. CHONG HOU YUE FORMERLY T/A EVER RICH KNITTING FACTORY
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCLA58/1989

The Presiding Officer's factual findings were supported by the evidence; the claimants were sent home and kept without work beyond lawful lay-off limits, constituting a fundamental breach amounting to constructive dismissal; C1 met statutory criteria for severance pay; there was no failure to consider defence evidence or maternity evidence that would vitiate the findings; appeal dismissed.
8 Dec 1989

SO YUET SHEUNG v. LINK STEP LTD.

Citation

SO YUET SHEUNG v. LINK STEP LTD.
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCLA60/1988

The court held that s.14(2)(a) requires the requisite continuous contract to subsist immediately before the expected date of commencement of maternity leave; because the appellant's continuous employment ended on 26 February 1988 and she was not in continuous employment immediately before the expected start date of 30 June 1988, she was not entitled to statutory maternity leave pay and the appeal was dismissed.

Hong Kong Case Law

WONG CHING YEE v. WAI SHUK YIN

RE AFK HONG KONG LTD

LAM WING LAI v. Y T CHENG (CHING TAI) LTD

SUN MIN v. HONG KONG MING WAH SHIPPING CO LTD

CHANG YING KWAN v. WYETH (HK) LTD

NG WAI YU AND OTHERS v. CHONG HOU YUE FORMERLY T/A EVER RICH KNITTING FACTORY

SO YUET SHEUNG v. LINK STEP LTD.