Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Director Wong Chi Hong said yesterday the government may decrease the quota of non-resident workers allowed to be hired by a particular employer if the latter violates the law on the hiring of imported workers.
Wong spoke to the media yesterday on the sidelines of an event at the Macau Young Entrepreneurs Incubation Centre in Nape.
At the event, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac and several other senior officials met local participants in three international vocational skills competitions which took place last year.
Wong made the remarks in response to questions from reporters about a zebra crossing accident last week in which the driver of a van which hit a pedestrian on a zebra crossing was found to be a non-resident worker.
The woman was hit by the van and suffered a serious head injury when she was walking across a zebra crossing in Lam Mau Tong district. The police said at that time that the male driver failed to give way to the woman on the zebra crossing. The police also said they were investigating whether he was illegally working as a driver.
The hiring of non-local drivers – both for passenger and goods vehicles – is banned by the government.
According to the law on the hiring of non-resident workers, local employers are not allowed to order their non-resident workers to carry out tasks that are not part of the respective employee’s job approved by the government. Any employer found to have breached the requirement faces a fine of between 5,000 and 10,000 patacas for each non-resident worker doing a job he or she is not employed to do, according to the law.
Wong stressed yesterday that non-resident workers, colloquially known as blue card holders, are only allowed to carry out tasks in the area of their respective positions, as specified by the Macau Occupations Classification (COPM).
The classification was promulgated by the city’s then Portuguese administration in 1997.
Wong stressed that the government has not approved any applications for the hiring of non-resident staff as drivers.
Wong said that based on the Macau Occupations Classification, a non-resident worker hired as a delivery person is only allowed to carry out duties such as delivering goods, adding that his or her duties do definitely not include driving vehicles.
Wong also said that if police officers find a non-resident worker illegally working as a driver, they will transfer the case to his bureau, which will then fine his or her employer.
Wong said that in addition to fining employers who order their non-resident workers to carry out tasks beyond the scope of their respective job position, his bureau would also consider decreasing the number of non-resident workers allowed to be hired by such employers in the future, or even not permit them to hire any non-resident workers at all.
Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL) Director Wong Chi Hong speaks to reporters at the Macau Young Entrepreneurs Incubation Centre in Nape yesterday. Photo: Joel Chu
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