Connie Lee and Vincent Chiu delivered an engaging seminar on a recent employment case at Deacons’ offices on 13 June 2019. The presentation was entitled “Testing the waters: Are Team-Based Commissions and Bonuses Deductible from Employees’ Statutory Entitlements?”
Taking the audience through the novel decision in Mak Wai Man & Ors v. Richfield Realty Limited [2019] HKDC 358, Connie and Vincent explained the reasoning behind the decision which clarified the law in respect of bonuses and commissions in the context of employees’ statutory entitlements and double payments.
The Court held that Team-Based Commission/Bonus paid already covered statutory entitlements of holiday pay, sickness allowance and annual leave and should accordingly be deducted.
Connie and Vincent explained that this was the re-trial of the 4 Plaintiffs’ claim against the Defendant for shortfalls of their statutory entitlements.
After providing a detailed analysis of this case set against the backdrop of the history and legislative intent in the lead up to this decision, Connie and Vincent shared some actionable takeaways and food for thought with the attendees. These included:
- The need for employers to provide transparent and unequivocal directives in relation to calculation mechanisms coupled with the importance of guiding employees through the appropriate laws in order to reduce the possibility of a conflict between the employer and employee.
- They queried whether this was a stand-alone decision which was confined to its own facts i.e. team-based commission and asked: What about commission that accrued on a daily basis?
The lunchtime presentation was well received and was followed by a lively Q&A session.
