Family-run recycling firm loses appeal over injured worker's job status

Hong Kong's Court of Appeal upheld a HK$161,233 injury payout against two related firms on 4 August 2026, Justice Anthony Chan ruled.

The judgment arose after an employee said he was jointly employed by two related businesses, a partnership and a limited company, whose ownership overlapped within one family, and that he was injured while working for both.

According to the employee, he had worked as a labourer for the two businesses since 19 August 2018 at a daily wage of HK$600, working across two workshops in the Kwu Tung area of Sheung Shui in the New Territories. On 26 December 2018, his right foot was rolled over by the wheel of a forklift truck at one of the workshops, an accident he said happened in the course of his work for both employers.

The employers denied any employment relationship existed at the time of the accident. After a five-day trial in the District Court, where the employee and a co-worker gave evidence against four witnesses called by the employers, including the woman who ran the partnership and was also sole director of the limited company, her husband, who served as the company secretary, her brother-in-law, the sole shareholder, and the forklift driver, the trial judge found for the employee. In a judgment dated 28 December 2023, he was awarded compensation and medical expenses of HK$161,233 under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, plus interest and 90 percent of costs.

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