A 57-year-old grocery store owner was sentenced to two months in jail on Friday after pleading guilty to employing an Indonesian woman who was subject to a deportation order.
The case was heard at the Sha Tin Magistrates’ Courts, where the defendant admitted to hiring the woman to work illegally in his store.
The Indonesian worker had already been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment in May last year for breaching her deportation order and taking unlawful employment.
The Immigration Department said it would continue to crack down on employers hiring illegal workers, stressing that such offenses are taken seriously.
The department cited a more severe case from February last year, in which the licensee of a dishwashing service company was jailed for 19 months after being convicted of 16 charges related to employing 24 illegal workers.
Between January and September this year, immigration officers arrested 443 suspected employers of illegal workers and successfully prosecuted 137 of them. Sentences ranged from fines of HK$5,000 to HK$60,000 and imprisonment terms of 45 days to six months.
The Immigration Department reminded employers not to hire illegal workers for the sake of convenience or lower labor costs, warning that those who break the law will face stringent penalties.
