Maxim's gets top dollar in staff subsidies

Erin Chan

Food and beverage conglomerate Maxim's Caterers received HK$321 million in wage subsidies, making it the biggest beneficiary in the seventh batch of the government's employment support scheme, which involved about 16,900 employers.

The firms received wage subsidies totaling HK$6.2 billion for June to August and are committed to maintaining a paid headcount of about 277,000.

Fast-food chain McDonald's, registered as MHK Restaurants, is collecting HK$137 million for over 15,000 employees.

Hong Kong Disneyland, co-owned by the government and Walt Disney, received HK$153 million for around 5,000 employees.

In the retail sector, Aeon Stores (Hong Kong) received HK$59.9 million for 3,013 employees, whereas Anway, a subsidiary of New World Development, collected HK$10.3 million for 406 employees.

As for the aviation industry, Hong Kong Airlines got HK$77.1 million for 2,940 staff, while Ground Support Engineering received HK$5.8 million for 222 employees.

Educational institutions, including Hong Kong International School, Hong Kong College of Technology and Hong Kong Shue Yan University, received over HK$9 million each.

Cathay Pacific, which has collected HK$450 million, is still the biggest beneficiary of the scheme so far, followed by Dairy Farm, Kowloon Motor Bus, Maxim's and Hong Kong Telecom.

A total of HK$28.5 million has also been disbursed to around 3,800 self-employed persons in the latest batch.

A total of HK$43.2 billion has been disbursed to around 146,100 employers and 1.87 million employees so far, while 99,300 self-employed persons have received their one-off subsidy totaling about HK$740 million.

Up until Monday, the secretariat received 346 reports of employers abusing or violating the scheme's conditions.