Casino op SJM extends bonus plan to 2017: labour group

Jan 02, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Employees of Macau-based casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd are to receive for 2017 an annual bonus – referred to by the company as a yearly “living subsidy”. It is equivalent to either one-and-a-half months of annual salary or two months of salary, depending on the worker concerned.

The information was contained in a document said to be copy of a company internal notice. It was posted to an online social messaging app by Cloee Chao, who describes herself as director of a Macau gaming worker group called Professional for Gaming of New Macau. GGRAsia approached SJM Holdings asking it to confirm the 2017 bonus award, but had not received a reply by the time the story went online.

According to the social media posting, SJM Holdings employees earning more than MOP20,000 (US$2,503) per month are entitled to a subsidy equal to 1.5 months of salary; or MOP40,000 – whichever amount is greater.

Employees earning below MOP20,000 per month, are entitled to a bonus worth the equivalent of two months of salary.

Each employee is to receive the 2017 bonus in two instalments: the first was on January 1; the second will be on July 1, according to the posted copy of the SJM Holdings internal notice.

If an employee has worked for SJM Holdings for under one year, he or she will be paid a pro rata bonus reflecting the amount of time spent with the company.

The posted copy of the internal memo didn’t mention whether SJM Holdings employees would additionally be offered a salary hike for 2017.

In August 2014, SJM Holdings pledged to retain its bonus scheme until at least the year 2020.

For the first nine months of 2016, the casino operator reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of HKD2.44 billion, a decline of 22.3 percent in year-on-year terms.

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