Hong Kong’s Labour Department announced that it convicted a man of operating an employment agency without a valid licence.

The man was fined HKD 11,250 (USD 1,448) at West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts yesterday.

On November 2019, the Employment Agencies Administration of the Labour Department had received a complaint against a man from an employer hiring a foreign domestic helper. The investigation revealed sufficient evidence that the man was operating an unlicensed employment agency. The Labour Department decided to take out the prosecution after the complainant was willing to act as prosecution witness.

Hong Kong’s Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, which came into force on 9 February 2018, raised the maximum penalty for unlicensed operation of an employment agency and overcharging of job-seekers' commissions to a fine of HKD 350,000 (USD 45,066) and imprisonment for three years.