Hotel Lisboa restaurant workers demand overtime compensation

Nearly 100 workers from Palacio Lisboa, a restaurant inside Hotel Lisboa, complained to the Labour Affairs Bureau yesterday that they had been overworked in the past yet had not been compensated by the company.
Some 30 of these workers, assisted by legislator José Coutinho, met with the government department yesterday, demanding compensation from their employers for their overtime work, as well as a 13th month salary bonus, according to TDM radio.
In addition, the workers claimed that their days off have also been curtailed by their employer.
“We have a regular four days off every month. If they [the company] arrange your day off on mandatory holidays, you will only have three days off [left] for the month. This is an act of exploitation”, a worker surnamed Chong told reporters, claiming there is no compensation even when workers work on mandatory holidays.
Meanwhile, the legislator told the Chinese media that three employees of the restaurant, aged 71 years old, 67 years and 65 years dared not retire even if they wanted to.
“[They] want to retire but the company does not allow them to do so. Meanwhile, if they retire themselves, they would not get any [compensation] from the employer. As such, we hope that the company can understand these employees are very old and tired, and that they want to avoid being fired by the company using excuses of breaking the rules”, Mr. Coutinho said.
Business Daily contacted the press office of Hotel Lisboa, who claimed that the restaurant was not under their scope. Meanwhile, according to TDM Chinese TV news, the Labour Affairs Bureau said it had contacted the employer to investigate the case.
K.L.