Executive director of Asia Television (ATV) Ip Ka-po resigned on Monday after the company failed to pay all its employees their November wages by the deadline.
An ATV spokesperson told Oriental Daily that the company had received loans from the investors on Monday and that the funds will be fully used to pay the November salaries to the staff. However, only half of the employees have now been paid. A portion of the ATV Miss Asia Pageant 2015 programme, which was scheduled for shooting on Tuesday, has also been cancelled due to financial difficulties.
Last Wednesday, Ip was fined HK$150,000 by the District Court. He faced 102 counts of failing to pay wages on time, with the charges involving two dozen employees and HK$1.13m in unpaid salaries. Following the ruling, Ip said that if ATV were unable to meet the deadline to pay the wages by Monday, he would resign.
On his blog, Ip told the ATV staff that having to bear personal legal responsibility for the company’s problems was the biggest stain on his life.
“Today the company failed to issue the November salaries to all employees. I cannot risk being in breach of the law any more and face the serious legal consequences of being executive director. I have been left with no choice but to resign… However, I will still do my best to fight for the rights that everyone deserves to have.”
Ip thanked everyone who “walked through ATV’s darkest hour” with him.
The Labour Department said earlier that they had been in touch with the ATV management, urging them to be punctual with the November wages. They also said that they would deal with the situation in accordance with the law.
