Hong Kong's Physical gym founders fined HK$24,000 for unpaid wages to 2 coaches
The founders of the
now-closed Physical fitness chain have been fined HK$12,000 (US$1,530) each over unpaid salaries to two coaches, with their lawyer saying they had exhausted every payment option after mortgaging all their properties.
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Eastern Court on Friday recorded guilty pleas from a lawyer representing Luk Ngai-keung and his wife Ho Yuk-wah on eight wage default charges under the Employment Ordinance.
The couple, who were absent from the hearing, were also required to pay damages totalling HK$23,227.80, which represented the outstanding payments to the two former workers between August 1 and September 6, 2024.
Physical Health Centre Hong Kong Limited, the company that hired the two coaches, was fined a total of HK$44,000 after pleading guilty to 12 charges in April.
The 38-year-old gym chain had defaulted on payments to more than 700 workers when it abruptly closed all of its 14 branches across Hong Kong in September the same year, a Labour Department representative told the court on Friday.
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Defence counsel Bosco Cheng Yu-kit said his clients, who were both directors of Physical, had been 'extremely responsible' in running the company and had never delayed payments to staff before last year.
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