************************************************
Following is a question by the Dr Hon Pan Pey-Chyou and a written reply by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (February 3):
Question:
Some organisations have relayed to me earlier that the Government currently employs a group of staff who work for less than 18 hours per week, and their terms of employment in the aspects of salary, benefits, holidays and number of working days, etc. are worse than those for non-civil service contract staff. Regarding the terms of employment of the aforesaid staff, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current number of the aforesaid staff employed by the Government, with a breakdown by government department and post;
(b) among the staff mentioned in paragraph (a):
(i) of the number of those continuously employed on contract terms, with a breakdown by year of continuous service (i.e. less than one year, and groups of three years each thereafter up to seven years or above); and
(ii) of the number of those employed on an hourly rate basis, with a breakdown by hourly rate (i.e. less than $18, and groups of five dollars each thereafter up to $33 or above); and
(c) whether the Government has, apart from the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme, provided any employee benefit to the aforesaid staff at present; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
At present, as civil servants are subject to conditioned hours of work, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments (hereafter shortened as 'HoDs') may employ part-time staff under the Non-Civil Service Contract (NCSC) Staff Scheme to attend to irregular or ad-hoc service needs which can be met by engaging staff working for less than the conditioned hours of work (including those working for less than 18 hours per week). Such an arrangement allows more flexibility in the operation of bureaux/departments (B/Ds) and enables them to respond more promptly to changing service needs.
B/Ds currently employ NCSC staff who work for less than 18 hours per week (hereafter shortened as 'part-time NCSC staff') mainly to meet service needs which entail irregular work pattern and/or work hours. While part-time NCSC staff are employed under a "fixed term contract", B/Ds will only call upon their services as and when the need arises.
NCSC staff are employed with an all-inclusive pay package which does not offer any fringe benefits. HoDs may determine the employment package for their NCSC staff having regard to the job nature, condition of the employment market, as well as their management and operational considerations. The terms and conditions of service for NCSC staff are overall speaking no less favourable than those provided for under the Employment Ordinance (EO) (Cap.57) and no more favourable than those applicable to civil servants in comparable civil service ranks or with comparable levels of responsibilities where they exist.
With the above brief explanation on the situation of part-time NCSC staff, my reply to the specific questions is set out below:
(a) As at December 31, 2009, there were a total of 7,550 part-time NCSC staff who had contractual relationship with various B/Ds. The breakdown of these staff by B/Ds is at Annex. The Civil Service Bureau does not keep statistics of these staff positions.
The majority of these staff (6,271 or around 83%) were employed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department to provide services to the public at the cultural and leisure venues. They were mostly part-time instructors/coaches for recreational and sports courses, ushers at cultural venues and camp counsellors overseeing the conduct of activities at camp sites.
(b)(i) As explained at the beginning of my reply, part-time NCSC staff are engaged mainly to meet service needs which entail irregular work pattern and/or work hours. During the contract period, they will be called upon only when service needs arise and B/Ds will liaise and agree with them on the number of working hours required for the concerned services. Thus, the services provided by part-time NCSC staff are not continuous in nature.
(ii) As at December 31, 2009, the average hourly rate of all part-time NCSC staff who had contractual relationship with B/Ds was $33 or above.
(c) Currently, all employees covered by the EO, irrespective of their period of employment and number of working hours per week, are entitled to certain employees' rights and benefits such as payment of wages, restriction on deductions from wages, statutory holidays, protection against unreasonable and unlawful dismissal, etc. While the EO is not binding on the Government, as explained at the beginning of my reply, the Government, as a good employer, adheres to the guiding principle that the terms of employment of NCSC staff are overall speaking no less favourable than those provided for under the EO.
Also, Government employees, including NCSC staff, irrespective of their period of employment and number of working hours per week, are covered by the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap.282). Part-time NCSC staff are thus already protected by the relevant laws, including provisions in relation to paid sick leave for injury on duty and compensation for death caused by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment.
Ends/Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Issued at HKT 12:31
NNNN
