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Brian Wong

The publisher of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been found guilty of violating Hong Kong’s labour laws by illegally preventing a former reporter from running for the chairmanship of a local press union.
However, Eastern Court on Thursday cleared Dow Jones Publishing Co (Asia) of unlawful termination of Selina Cheng Kar-yue’s contract, finding her dismissal could have been the result of a broader restructuring exercise as the American newspaper shifted its Asian headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore.
The court ruled that Dow Jones had illegally deterred Cheng from exercising her right of association by requiring her to seek prior approval for her involvement in the Hong Kong Journalists Association’s leadership race in June 2024.
The defendant, a subsidiary of the company that hires WSJ employees in the region, faced a fine of up to HK$100,000 (US$12,750) under the Employment Ordinance. Sentencing is expected early next year.
In his verdict, Principal Magistrate David Cheung Chi-wai found that Dow Jones’ prior-approval requirement for employees was a “wrongful and unjustified” application of its code of conduct.
He said the arrangement had placed the newspaper’s management above the law and left workers at the mercy of the wishes and arbitrary exercise of power by its senior executives.
“By imposing the requirement for getting prior approval before election, the only irresistible inference to be drawn from the full facts is that the defendant intended to prevent [Cheng] from exercising her right to take part in activity of election of [the association],” Cheung said.
The magistrate rejected the defence’s assertion that Cheng’s legal action was driven by greed after the publisher snubbed her offer to settle a separate civil claim for HK$3 million.
He accepted that Cheng genuinely wished to hold her former employer liable for breaking the law and was not using the case as leverage in settlement negotiations.


Cheng, who eventually won the press union’s leadership race and is now an independent journalist, praised the verdict as “meticulous and fair to all parties”, while urging authorities to take firm action against future violations of workers’ rights to join trade unions.
“The outcome today speaks for itself,” she said. “That being said, I’d still have preferred if the government had prosecuted instead of me, as not many ordinary workers or employees have the resources to bring private prosecutions.
“If it costs millions of dollars just to assert one’s basic right, that right is in effect no longer guaranteed by the law.”
A Dow Jones spokesman said the firm disagreed with the ruling and would evaluate its next steps.
“The Wall Street Journal has a long and proud history as an employer in Hong Kong,” he said. “Throughout that time, we have remained deeply respectful of its labour laws and supportive of our employees’ rights, while publishing excellent, impartial journalism about the region.”
The association has come under intense pressure since the 2019 anti-government protests, with pro-Beijing media asserting that the group colluded with anti-China forces to stir unrest in the city.
Security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung has consistently accused the association of lacking credibility and legitimacy. He also slammed the union for defending former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and warned that authorities could crack down on the group if it committed a national security offence.
In late 2024, Cheng initiated private prosecution proceedings – a right derived from the city’s common law tradition – against her former employer after the Labour Department decided not to act on her complaints.
The Department of Justice previously said it would not intervene in the proceedings.
Cheng said her then-supervisor and Dow Jones’ human resources department had asked her to pull out of the association’s election, saying her role as the union’s chief would be incompatible with her job and that she had failed to obtain the company’s green light.
Her employment was terminated on restructuring grounds on July 17, 2024.


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News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Court rules company broke labour laws by preventing Selina Cheng from running for chairmanship in Hong Kong Journalists Association election


Court rules company broke labour laws by preventing Selina Cheng from running for chairmanship in Hong Kong Journalists Association election.


Wall Street Journal publisher convicted for blocking reporter’s bid to lead union

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Court rules company broke labour laws by preventing Selina Cheng from running for chairmanship in Hong Kong Journalists Association election

Court rules company broke labour laws by preventing Selina Cheng from running for chairmanship in Hong Kong Journalists Association election