Hong Kong pest control firm banned from importing workers over rejecting local

A Hong Kong pest control and cleaning company has been banned from bringing in workers from outside the city for a year after it was found to have refused to offer a job to a suitable local candidate first.

The Labour Department said on Monday that it had imposed an “administrative sanction” on Amala Limited and would not process its applications for importing workers for one year, with the measure taking effect last Thursday.

“At the same time, the [department] has terminated the processing of an application previously submitted by the company,” a department spokesman said.

The move marks the first time a business has been penalised for failing to follow the rules of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme since it was revised two years ago.

The spokesman said the company had “earlier refused to employ a qualified local jobseeker during the four-week local recruitment under the [scheme] without reasonable grounds, violating the requirements of local recruitment”.

“The [scheme] stipulates that if an employer violates labour or immigration laws, the requirements of the [scheme] or the standard employment contract, the [department] will impose an administrative sanction on the employer, including the withdrawal of approval for the importation of labour previously granted and refusal to process any subsequent applications submitted by the employer,” the spokesman said.