Variable pay earners hold the same legal protections as salaried staff
Withholding commission payments cost a Hong Kong company its entire case and handed its two employees the means to end their employment on their own terms.
In a judgment dated 6 March 2026, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance dismissed all claims brought by Caidao Capital Limited against two former investment managers, with direct implications for employers using variable pay structures.
The case centred on Mr Harmen Overdijk and Mr Lodewijk Lamaison Van Den Berg, who joined CCL in September 2014 to build a wealth management division called Caidao Wealth. Their contracts described their salary as "solely commission based and not fixed," with pay tied to revenue from clients they introduced. From April 2015, CCL paid each of them HK$100,000 per month as an advance against those earnings.
Relations deteriorated from early 2016. CCL's chief executive, Ms Ming Lee, raised compliance concerns during a Securities and Futures Commission audit and pushed to cut the revenue share from 90 to 80 per cent. Minutes of a management meeting on 21 April 2016 recorded the change as agreed, effective from 1 January 2016. Payments continued until December 2016 for Mr Overdijk and November 2016 for Mr Lamaison, then stopped altogether.
Mr Overdijk received nothing for January 2017 and claimed constructive dismissal on 2 February 2017. Mr Lamaison had already ended his employment in December 2016 by offering wages in lieu...
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