The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2010, which the Legislative Council passed on April 28, has been gazetted.

Under the ordinance, an employer who wilfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay any sum the Labour Tribunal and Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board awarded, comprising wages and entitlements, will be liable to prosecution.

The maximum penalty will be $350,000 and three years' in prison, the same as the highest penalty for wage offences.

If the wilful default of award a body corporate commits is proved to have been committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director or responsible person of the body corporate, the director or responsible person commits the like offence. 

Where the wilful default of an award by a partner of a firm is committed with the consent, connivance or neglect of any other partner or person concerned in the management of the firm, that other partner or person commits the like offence.