Hong Kong’s Labour Department has imposed a one-year sanction on Waso Cafe (PE) Limited after finding false information in its local recruitment process.
The department said on Aug. 10 that it had terminated processing of the company’s existing application under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme, or ESLS. It will also refuse to process any further applications submitted by Waso Cafe under the scheme for one year from the same date.
The Labour Department said its investigation found that the company supplied false information during local recruitment while seeking approval to import waiters and waitresses, junior cooks and dishwashers. It did not disclose how many vacancies were involved or specify the false information.
The ESLS allows Hong Kong employers that have genuine difficulty recruiting locally to apply to import workers for posts at technician level or below. Employers must first recruit locally, with suitable local job seekers given priority for available positions.
“Employers applying for the importation of workers under the ESLS should strictly comply with the scheme requirements,” a Labour Department spokesman said, adding that employers must give priority to suitable local workers.
Hong Kong tightened recruitment requirements for selected ESLS jobs from June 16. Covered food-and-beverage posts, including junior cooks and waiters or waitresses, are subject to a six-week local recruitment period and a requirement for at least three full-time local employees for every imported worker within the relevant job section.
The enhanced rules apply to applications receiving a preliminary-screening notice on or after June 16. The government said the measures were designed to strengthen employment priority for local workers while retaining access to imported labour where genuine recruitment shortages remain.
For Waso Cafe, the Aug. 10 decision ends its pending ESLS case and prevents any new application it submits under the scheme from being processed during the one-year sanction period.