Fitness First accused of owing Hong Kong staff HK$2 million in back pay for public holidays
The city’s Labour Department has arranged a meeting between aggrieved personal trainers and the gym chain
Global gym chain Fitness First and at least 20 of its staff in the city are mired in a dispute over HK$2 million in wages, with personal trainers accusing the company of not reimbursing them fairly for public holidays.
Hong Kong’s labour law requires employees hired under a continuous contract for three months or more to be paid for 12 statutory holidays each year.
The rate of pay should be equivalent to the average daily wage earned by the employee in a 12-month period.
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But the aggrieved trainers said the Britain-based chain, which has nine branches in prime Hong Kong locations such as Tsim Sha Tsui Sheraton Hotel, told them that commissions paid to them would “cover” their pay for the statutory holidays.
A trainer who identified himself as Joe said on Wednesday: “As stated in the pay slip, they took part of our commission to cover our statutory holidays and annual leaves. The [human resources department] first refused to answer us…but later said it was stated clearly in the employment contract that they had the right to do so.
“This is not accepted by law,” he said.
The matter came to light when the Hong Kong Recreation and Sports Professional General Union on Tuesday issued a memo asking Fitness First staff who had not received wages and who had labour-related enquiries to contact them.
On Wednesday, union president Lee Yuet-man and lawmaker Michael Luk Chung-hung from the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions held a press conference with about 20 of the gym’s trainers who had worked for the chain for between two and 17 years.
