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Michael Szeto

Michael Szeto

 / 
Partner
Direct Line
3906 9645
Email
michael.szeto@onc.hk

Education

1997        LLB (Hons), City University of London, England

1998        PCLL, The University of Hong Kong

 

Admission

2000        Solicitor, Hong Kong

2018        Civil Celebrant of Marriages

 

Experience

Michael Szeto is a litigation partner of ONC Lawyers and heads the firm’s Employment practice. He has over 20 years of experience in handling complex commercial dispute resolution, shareholders’ and joint venture disputes, bankruptcy and insolvency matters, debt recovery and mortgagee actions. He also routinely deals with regulatory actions and compliance matters under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, the Hong Kong listing rules and anti-money laundering laws and guidelines.

 

On the employment side, Michael often advises on various contentious and non-contentious employment matters, covering contract reviews, termination disputes, injunctive relief, discrimination and harassment claims, data privacy matters, as well as advice on matters relating to team moves, remuneration packages and employee incentive schemes.  He is an author to Hong Kong employment law manuals and frequently publishes employment law articles in industry publications. He frequently gives talks to legal and human resource professionals. Michael has been recognised as a Lexology Legal Influencer in Employment & Immigration (Individual Expert) for Q1, Q3, Q4 2021, Q1-Q4 2022 and Q2 2023.

 

Professional Activities

·           Member, Lexis Advance® Hong Kong Practical Guidance Employment Editorial Board

 

Speaking Engagements

Seminars and webinars

·           “Employment Ordinance and Talent Retention”, jointly organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and The Hong Kong Institute of Directors for National Sports Associations and Sports Organizations, January 2024

·           “Senior Executive and Broad-level Employment Law (Part II)”, ONC Lawyers, October 2023

·           “Overview of Employment Ordinance and Talent Retention” jointly organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Hong Kong Institute of Directors for National Sports Associations and Sports Organizations, March 2023

·           “Legal Intricacies in M&A Due Diligence: Employment and Fraud/Corruption”, Association of Corporate Counsel,  December 2022

·           “With Great Salary There Must Come Great Responsibility… and Restrictions and Legal Obligations”, ONC Lawyers,  August 2022

·           “COVID-19 Special: Latest Changes to the Employment Ordinance that Employers Need to Know”, ONC Lawyers and LexisNexis, April 2022

·           “COVID-19 5th Wave from an Employment Law Perspective: Vaccine Pass, Mandatory Lockdowns, Compulsory Quarantine, Testing and More”, ONC Lawyers, March 2022

·           “Employment Updates in regards to COVID Protocols and Regulations in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and USA”, Association of Corporate Counsel, May 2021

·           The Operations and Rules of the Labour Tribunal: Your Must-Know Mechanism for Resolving Employment Disputes”, Association of Corporate Counsel, April 2021

 

Other speaking engagements

·           Protection of part-time workers”, RTHK Radio 3’s “Backchat”, February 2024

·           Protection of part-time workers”, RTHK Radio 3’s “Backchat”, August 2023

·           勞資審裁處裁定物流平台配送工屬僱員, RTHK’s “自由風自由PHONE”, July 2023

 

Publications

Law manuals

·           Author, Securities Law of HKSAR and PRC, LexisNexis, April 2024

·           Author, Hong Kong Employment Law Manual (Issue 49), LexisNexis, March 2024

·           Author, Hong Kong Employment Law Manual (Issue 48), LexisNexis, September 2023

·           Author, Hong Kong Employment Law Manual (Issue 47), LexisNexis, April 2023

·           Contributor, Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong Current Service Issue 121 – Employment (Second Edition), LexisNexis, October 2022

·           Contributor, ‘Employment’ (Volume 13), The Hong Kong Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents, LexisNexis, March 2022 (Reissue)

 

Legal articles

·           Author, ‘Hong Kong Employment Law 2023 Review, ONC Lawyers, January 2024

·           Author, ‘Can an employer claw back discretionary bonus already granted to an employee?, ONC Lawyers, November 2023

·           Author, ‘The Court of First Instance rules that a subsequent transfer order by the Labour Tribunal will not cure a jurisdictional defect where the claim was wrongly commenced at a higher court in the first place, ONC Lawyers, October 2023

·           Author, ‘What is pregnancy discrimination and how to avoid it?, Human Resources Director Asia, October 2023

·           Author, ‘First Hong Kong Labour Tribunal decision to rule gig worker couriers are employees, ONC Lawyers, July 2023

·           Author, ‘Revisiting labour rights of gig workers: whether new labour laws are necessary?, ONC Lawyers, July 2023

·           Author, ‘Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme: Government’s latest attempt to address acute manpower shortages, ONC Lawyers, June 2023

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