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The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) recently conducted a round of inspections of retail outlets in different shopping malls to remind employers of their responsibility to make Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions for their employees and to disseminate messages about MPF responsibilities and rights to the employers and employees.
 
During the inspections, MPFA staff checked if the employers had complied with the MPF legislation, including whether they had enrolled their employees in an MPF scheme and made contributions. The MPFA staff also passed to them publicity leaflets carrying MPF-related information and points to note for employers.
 
The MPFA attaches great importance to protecting scheme members’ rights and has used a variety of channels to publicize information related to the MPF. The Authority also proactively follows up all suspected cases of non-compliance.
 
In the past three years, the MPFA had conducted more than 6,000 proactive inspections, and through different means, had recovered over $400 million outstanding MPF contributions on behalf of employees.



The MPFA urges all employers to enrol their employees in an MPF scheme and make MPF contributions on time, except for exempt person¹. Employees include students in summer jobs, regardless of whether they are full-time or part-time, or how many hours or days they work. As long as they are aged 18 to 64 and hired for at least 60 days, employers are required to enrol them in an MPF scheme on or before the 60^th day of employment.
 
The MPFA also reminds employees that if they suspect their employers have failed to enrol them in an MPF scheme or make contributions, they should contact the MPFA as soon as possible to lodge a complaint. The MPFA’s hotline is 2918 0102.
 
Under the law, any employer who fails to enrol an employee in an MPF scheme or to make contributions on time is liable to a maximum fine of $450,000 and four years’ imprisonment. In 2016-17, there were 293 and 37 cases in which employers were convicted of defaulting on MPF contributions and failing to enrol employees in an MPF scheme respectively.
 
Last month, a company director was sentenced to 21 days’ imprisonment for failing to comply with court orders to pay MPF contributions in arrears and surcharges for the company’s employees to the MPFA. It was the first case in which a company director was sentenced to imprisonment for defaulting on MPF contributions and breaching the MPF legislation. The company was also fined $20,000 earlier.