A TAKEAWAY owner has been ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to a former employee who he claimed to have given Post-its instead of payslips.
The Employment and Discrimination Tribunal case, which was heard last week, involved Ms Sin Joyee Li, who briefly became a part-owner and director of Hong Kong Chef Limited in 2024 before pulling out of the purchase. She claimed she never received a contract, never saw payslips, and was owed unpaid wages.
While her wage claim was rejected, the Tribunal upheld the complaints over missing paperwork in a written judgment published yesterday.
Ms Li and the company’s director, Mr Kamp Ping Yau, had agreed she would take over ownership of the takeaway in two stages. She paid for one share and became a director in June 2024, but the deal later fell through, and her share was returned.
Mr Yau told the Tribunal that “he agreed with Ms Li that he would write her pay details on a Post-it note once a week to save costs”, but that he stopped providing these pay slips when she became part-owner of the business.
However, Ms Li said she never received any Post-its featuring her salary and deductions.
Having heard evidence from both parties, Tribunal Chair Dr Elena Moran said that she was “not satisfied” that there had ever been a “consistent practice of providing the requisite information on Post-it notes prior to June 2024 or that any Post-it notes were provided before or at the time of payment”.
While the Chair noted that Ms Li could have ensured that a “proper practice was put in place” during her time as director, she found that the ongoing lack of proper pay slips “made it difficult for Ms Li to understand whether she has been paid properly”.
“I consider the [employment law] breach to be a serious one because of the confusion that it has caused,” Dr Moran said.
The Tribunal also found that no formal contract was ever issued.
They ordered that Hong Kong Chef compensate Ms Li the equivalent of two weeks’ gross pay for the missing contract and three weeks’ for the lack of payslips – amounting to £1,090.
The company was ordered to pay the sum within 14 days.
