Pizza Hut Hong Kong underpaid employees for 10 years

Pizza Hut Hong Kong is set to pay back some of their staff after underpaying them by 1 per cent in salaries for the past decade. Those that did not receive the correct pay, both present and former employees will be reimbursed in December.

According to the Standard, an internal memo was sent to employees by the human resources department that stated their holiday pay had been miscalculated since 2007. It was estimated nearly 3000 current staff members were affected.

Staff still working at the pizza chain will receive the payment in addition to their December salary whilst former employees should receive cheques by year end according to the statement. Chief executive, Henry Yip Cheuk-tak apologised to staff over the mistake in the same statement.

It seems the mistake was connected to an amendment of the Employment Ordinance in 2007, which stated that commission accrued and calculated on a monthly basis should be included in the calculation of holiday pay and annual leave pay. As reported in local media, the human resources department found an error in August this year during a salary review.

The actual amount to be reimbursed was not disclosed but the company insisted the impact was minimal as it only accounts for 1 per cent of the staff's annual salary.

Speaking to the Standard, committee member Leung Tin-chu of The Eating Establishment Employees General Union said, "They made the correction on their own initiative. It's a good thing."