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Legal Updates
Hong Kong Wage Subsidy Update – Government announces new round of Employment Support Scheme subject to new rules
The Hong Kong government announced on 18 March 2022 a new round of Employment Support Scheme (“ESS 2022”) in response to the “fifth-wave” of the Covid-19 pandemic in Hong Kong, and intended to target the wage subsidies at small and medium enterprises affected by the…Read More
Nesting Arrangements – will separating parents flock to this concept?
For separating and divorcing parents, one serious consideration often is: how will this relationship change affect our children? And rightly so. While the separation and divorce process involves the breakdown of the parent’s relationship, the children’s lives are inevitably turned over. Often, the children will…Read More
2022 Joint Circular of SFC and HKMA on Virtual Asset Dealing and Advisory Service
The Securities and Futures Commission (“SFC”) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) recently published a joint circular on intermediaries’ virtual asset-related activities on 28 January 2022 (the “Circular”). The Circular supersedes the earlier circular to intermediaries on distribution of virtual asset funds on 1…Read More
Legal Update: Employment (Amendment) Bill 2022 introduces proposed amendments relating to sickness and vaccination requests
The Hong Kong Government had recently tightened the already severe social-distancing measures in view of the 5th wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong and made announcements of other policies it intended to implement in the future. Vaccine Pass Regulation The Government had made…Read More
Legal Update: Proposed amendments to abolish MPF offsetting arrangement relating to statutory severance and long service payments
On 11 February 2022, the Government of the HKSAR published the Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022 (the “Amendment Bill”) in the Gazette. The Amendment Bill was given the First Reading at the Legislative Council on 23 February 2022. Currently, employers…Read More
Recent District Court decision on whether ‘gweilo’ remark discriminatory
Introduction More than three years ago, we published an article on this site in respect of a District Court claim lodged by a British construction professional (the “Employee”) who alleged that his former employer (the “Employer”) had discriminated against him on the ground of his…Read More
Important points for making discrimination claims highlighted in a recent District Court case by a former student against a local university
The background The Claimant in the case of C v The Chinese University of Hong Kong [2022] HKDC 77 is a former postgraduate student in the Chinese University (the “University”) who was suffering from depression and generalized anxiety disorder during her studies. The Claimant’s studies…Read More
Legal update: Abolition of fraud exception to summary judgments in Hong Kong
Introduction Notwithstanding heightened awareness of cyber-fraud, it is still common for individuals to be duped by fraudsters into remitting money to bank accounts in Hong Kong (and elsewhere of course) with the funds then being further dissipated by the fraudsters to put them beyond the…Read More
Tanner De Witt joins the Greener Litigation Pledge
We are proud to announce that Tanner De Witt is now a signatory to the Greener Litigation Pledge.
Legal Update: The High Court confirms and restates the employer’s right to terminate under contractual provisions, and the limited effect on that right of the implied duty of trust and confidence in employment contracts
The Duty The implied duty of mutual trust and confidence (the “Duty”) was first recognised in the UK case of Malik v BCCI [1998] AC 20 and was later adopted by the Hong Kong Courts in Evelyn Semana Bachicha v Poon Shiu Man Henry (CACV…Read More
Legal update: Hong Kong High Court upholds a six-month non-compete clause
The Hong Kong High Court has recently upheld and enforced a six-month non-compete clause in BFAM Partners (Hong Kong) Limited v Gareth John Mills and Segantii Capital Management Limited [2021] HKCFI 2904, granting an injunction in favour of the applicant former employer, BFAM. Background BFAM, a company…Read More
Injunction to restrain the presentation of a winding-up petition
Introduction Rather unfortunately, there are no statutory provisions available to a company to set aside a statutory demand. If a company is served with a statutory demand and disputes the alleged debt, save for agreeing with the alleged creditor not to present a winding-up petition,…Read More