A Hong Kong company has been barred from hiring non-local workers after it was found to have rejected local candidates – the first sanction since the government’s scheme was launched two years ago.
Amala Ltd was banned from joining the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) for one year after it refused to hire a qualified local applicant during the four-week local recruitment under the scheme, “without reasonable grounds,” the Labour Department said in a statement on Monday.
“An administrative sanction has been imposed on the company,” the department said, adding that the one-year sanction began on Thursday.
It also terminated the processing of Amala’s application to hire non-local workers.
According to Amala’s website, the company provides pest control, deep cleaning, and air purification services.
The government reminded employers that they must give priority to employing qualified local workers while applying for non-local hiring schemes.
The government introduced the ESLS, one of the schemes for imported workers, around two years ago.
The ESLS allows Hong Kong employers to hire non-local workers for 26 types of jobs and unskilled or low-skilled posts with an unlimited quota. Those posts, including cleaners, waiters, dishwashers, cashiers and sales assistants, were previously only open to local residents.
As of the end of March, Hong Kong had imported more than 54,000 non-local workers under the ESLS, according to government figures, with most of the employees working in the city’s catering industry.
Earlier in April, the Eating Establishment Employees General Union said that over 200 employees reported being fired and replaced by non-local workers employed through the ESLS, urging the government to review the imported labour scheme.
The government rolled out a hotline in June, asking people to call if they suspect employers are replacing local employees with imported workers amid ongoing complaints about the city’s non-local labour schemes.
The ESLS is set to end in September, but the authorities have yet to announce any review or update of the scheme.
