Following complaints from workers over unpaid salaries, Sunrise International Development Co (和昇休閒), a local hotel and restaurant operator, is to issue back pay with an extra 5 percent allowance to employees this week. The company attributed the delay to bureaucratic paperwork.
Sunrise chairman Yu Chieh-ming (禹介民) told a news conference at the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday the company will distribute back pay for the months of August and last month, plus a 5 percent allowance, on Wednesday.
The company issued the statement after employees complained to local media about unpaid salaries.
Sunrise, which in July acquired local restaurant chain Zoe International Group (展圓連鎖餐飲) to expand its scale and diversify income sources, does not have cash flow problems, Yu said.
Yu attributed the incident to a procedural delay, saying the company needed time to file personnel data with the labor insurance bureau following the integration of Zoe into Sunrise, which resulted in a combined workforce of 600. Yu said the company has only completed paperwork for 200 so far.
The acquisition allows Sunrise to take over eight restaurant brands under Zoe International — including Azabu Sabo (麻布茶房), Cafe Kitchen (咖啡廚房), Irodori Sushi (鮨彩壽司), Perfume Dance (跳舞香水) and Gen Teishoku (元定食) — that have 28 outlets nationwide, mostly in popular department stores.
“There is no malicious intention behind the pay delay,” Yu said.
The back pay would require NT$16.1 million (US$532,390) and the company has NT$11.46 million in cash and another NT$300 million worth of credit it could borrow from banks, the company said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing on Thursday.
The company is in talks with local lenders on loans of NT$50 million, the filing said.
Sunrise set up a subsidiary in June to take charge of restaurant operations and increased its capital by NT$1 million to bolster the hotel business. It raised another NT$160 million for expansion of the dining arm.
The company, which also owns jewelry store Isabella Gold (伊莎貝拉金飾), operates 11 medium-sized resort hotels and inns in scenic areas in Taiwan and Japan. The company said it aims to raise the number to 15 in the near future.
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