Signed legal documents admitted employment, then the employer blamed rushed paperwork for the error
A Hong Kong court recently dealt with an appeal concerning whether a worker was genuinely employed by a company or merely receiving financial support through a personal relationship.
The case raised questions about what happens when a company formally admits to an employment relationship in its legal documents, then later claims those admissions were mistakes made in haste.
The worker argued that the Labour Tribunal had failed to properly consider her employer's own written defence, which explicitly stated she was employed as an assistant general manager with a monthly salary of HK$38,000.
She also challenged the tribunal's reasoning that her employment ended simply because she moved out of a shared residence, and questioned findings that certain cash deposits to her bank account represented wage payments despite no evidence linking them to her alleged salary.
The worker claimed she was employed as a personal assistant between April 2014 and March 2017, earning a monthly salary of HK$38,000.
She filed a claim seeking arrears totalling HK$418,000, representing unpaid monthly salaries from 1 February 2016 to 31 March 2017.
The employer company was held equally by a male director and the director's wife, who both served as directors.
The worker had been in a relationship with the male director since 1998, during which time he was married...
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