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Following is a question by the Hon Lee Cheuk-yan and an oral reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (March 7):
Question:
Under the Employment Ordinance, an employee shall be entitled to employment benefits such as rest days, paid statutory holidays, paid annual leave, paid maternity leave, paid sickness days, severance payment and long service payment only if he or she is employed under a continuous contract (i.e. he or she has been employed under a contract of employment for four or more weeks and has worked for 18 hours or more in each week). The court in the United Kingdom ("UK") has ruled, in the case of "Regina v. Secretary of State for Employment ex parte Equal Opportunities Commission and another", that some legal provisions in UK, which are similar to those relating to the above requirement for employment under a continuous contract, discriminate against women, on the ground that most of the part-time employees who work lesser hours weekly are female. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of employees in each of the past three years, broken down by gender, who had worked less than 18 hours within seven days before data collection due to reasons other than slack work or their being on leave;
(b) whether it has studied if the ruling on the above UK case and its ground are applicable to Hong Kong; and
(c) whether it will amend the provisions relating to employment under a continuous contract in the Employment Ordinance to safeguard the rights and interests of part-time employees?
Reply:
Madam President,
All employees, regardless of whether they are employed under a continuous contract, are entitled to protection for wage payment, statutory holidays, protection against anti-union discrimination and employment protection in respect of unreasonable and unlawful dismissal etc. under the Employment Ordinance (EO). Employees who have been employed under a continuous contract for 4 weeks or more with at least 18 hours worked in each week are entitled to other employment benefits under the EO such as rest days, pay for statutory holidays, paid annual leave, paid maternity leave, paid sickness days, severance payment and long service payment, subject to their fulfilling other qualifying requirements as specified under the law.
As regards the statistical figures requested by the Hon Lee, given that the General Household Survey regularly conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) does not collect statistics or provide data analysis exclusively on employees who come under the protection of the EO, we are unable to provide the statistics as requested.
In order to obtain updated information on the characteristics of employees who are not working under a continuous contract, the Labour Department commissioned the C&SD to conduct a special topic enquiry in 2006 for this purpose. The data collected is being processed and analysed. We will report to the Labour Advisory Board upon completion of the survey report.
As for the court case of the United Kingdom (UK) quoted by the Hon Lee, a direct comparison with Hong Kong would not be appropriate, given the difference between the provisions under the Employment Ordinance and the legislation of UK, and the different circumstances of employees undertaking part-time employment in the two places. We will seek the advice of the Department of Justice on whether the judgment of the UK court case and the justifications of the judgment are applicable to Hong Kong.
We will consider whether there is a need to amend the continuous contract provisions under the EO. In assessing the need to revise or relax the relevant requirements, we will make reference to the laws of other economies. However, as the socio-economic environment and labour market situation amongst different jurisdictions may not be the same, in reviewing the relevant requirements under our law, we have to consider the actual circumstances in Hong Kong with a view to ensuring that the relevant legislative provisions strike a balance between the reasonable demands of employers and employees and are in line with the overall development and needs of Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:10
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