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LCQ7:Arrangements regarding additional or substituted general holidays
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     Following is a question by the Hon Wong Yuk-man and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (May 4):

Question:

     It has been reported that after visiting a lunar new year fair in Sha Tin on February 13, 2010, the Chief Executive ("CE") indicated that as the Lunar New Year's Day ("LNY's Day") of 2010 fell on a Sunday, which was a general holiday, the arrangement of designating the day immediately preceding that day (i.e. Saturday), as the additional general holiday might result in some members of the public losing one day's holiday; and in order to keep the legislation abreast of the times, the Government was considering amending the legislation to allow greater flexibility for the substitution of holidays. Moreover, in his reply to my question on October 27, 2010, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare ("SLW") said, "Earlier this year, the Chief Executive undertook to review the present arrangement whereby in the event that LNY's Day falls on a Sunday, the day before, ie Saturday, will be designated as the additional general holiday. As this scenario will not occur until 2013, the Labour Department will make use of this interval to conduct a thorough review and consult stakeholders in due course. Nevertheless, as Saturdays are not designated as general holidays under GHO (General Holidays Ordinance), there is no question of making arrangements for additional general holiday when a general holiday falls on a Saturday." In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) given that SLW pointed out that there was no question of making arrangements for additional general holiday when a general holiday falls on a Saturday, of the reasons for CE indicating that the Government was considering changing the current arrangement of designating a Saturday as the additional general holiday of LNY's Day in order to keep the legislation abreast of the times, and what the arrangement to keep abreast of the times referred to by CE is;

(b) given that some members of the public believe, on the basis of the above remarks of CE, that the Government will solve the problem that members of the public working five days a week are losing one day's holiday when Saturdays are designated as general holidays, whether the authorities will address the problem; if not, of the reasons for that;

(c) given that the Employment Ordinance (Cap.57) provides that when LNY's Day, the second or third day of LNY falls on a Sunday, the day immediately preceding LNY's Day will be designated as an additional general holiday, and GHO (Cap.149) provides that if two general holidays fall on the same day, the next following day that is not itself a general holiday is to be observed as an additional general holiday, whether it has assessed if the two provisions contradict each other;

(d) given that the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day fall on the same day in 2012, and the authorities have designated October 2 as an additional general holiday in accordance with the aforesaid provision on additional general holidays under the GHO, whether October 2, 2012 is the additional general holiday of the National Day or the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival; and

(e) given that October 1, 2011, which is a Saturday, is the National Day and the general holiday of that day, while no other day is designated as additional general holiday, thus resulting in some members of the public losing one day of holiday, whether the authorities have assessed if such an arrangement contravenes patriotism?
 
Reply:

     President,

(a)-(b) General holidays, as provided for by the General Holidays Ordinance (Cap. 149) (GHO), are days on which all banks, educational establishments, public offices and government departments need not open. In addition to Sundays, there are currently 17 general holidays in a year. Usually, if a general holiday falls on a Sunday, the following day will be the holiday. Yet, if any of the first three days of Lunar New Year or the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on a Sunday, the day preceding Lunar New Year's Day or the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival will be the general holiday. As Saturdays are not general holidays under the GHO, there is no question of making arrangement for additional general holiday when a general holiday falls on a Saturday. On the other hand, the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) (EO) requires employers to grant statutory holidays to their employees. Except where a Lunar New Year holiday or the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on a Sunday, in which case the day immediately preceding the holiday will be designated as a replacement holiday, for other statutory holidays falling on an employee's rest day, the day following the rest day is designated as a replacement holiday across the board.

     With changes in Hong Kong's social circumstances and economic structure in recent years, the working day patterns of employees have undergone adjustments as well. A considerable proportion of employees now enjoy days off on Saturdays and Sundays. Besides, it has been common for many employers in the public and private sectors to release their employees earlier from duty on Lunar New Year' Eve and the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Under such circumstances, some members of the public have expressed concern over whether the arrangement of designating replacement holidays for the Lunar New Year and Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival holidays ahead of the said holidays under the EO still suits the actual circumstances nowadays.  Hence, there are calls in the community for the Government to review the relevant arrangement. Against this background, the Chief Executive undertook early last year to review the arrangement of designating the day before, ie Saturday, as a replacement holiday in the event that Lunar New Year's Day falls on a Sunday.

     Having regard to the recent development in the working day patterns of employees in Hong Kong and the views of the public, the Administration proposed to amend the EO such that the replacement holiday for any of the Lunar New Year holidays and the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falling on a Sunday will be given after the holiday concerned. To enable corresponding alignments in the holidays of relevant institutions, we will in parallel introduce amendments to the GHO regarding the replacement holiday arrangement in the event that the Lunar New Year holidays or the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival fall on a Sunday. This proposal was unanimously supported by Members of the Panel of Manpower of the Legislative Council (LegCo) in March this year. We are currently embarking on the relevant work and our plan is to introduce a bill into LegCo in the next legislative session.

     As to the view that employees should also be granted a replacement holiday in the event of a statutory holiday or general holiday falling on a Saturday, we have to state clearly that discontinuing the arrangement of designating Saturday as a replacement holiday should Lunar New Year's Day fall on a Sunday and the suggestion of granting employees an additional holiday should a general holiday fall on a Saturday are completely different matters. It is thus inappropriate to treat the two together.  Besides, as many establishments remain open on Saturdays and many employees are still required to work on Saturdays, the matter is very complicated. After all, the community has not come to a consensus on the issue. Before the impact of such arrangement on business operation and cost is fully studied, we are of the view that the suggestion should not be considered.

(c) The current provisions under the EO and the GHO regarding the replacement holiday arrangement in the event of the Lunar New Year holidays falling on a Sunday are in line with each other: where any of the first three days of Lunar New Year or the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on a Sunday, both ordinances designate the day before the holiday as a replacement holiday. As for replacement holidays in respect of statutory holidays and general holidays other than the Lunar New Year and the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, there is also a consistent arrangement: for other statutory holidays falling on a rest day or general holidays falling on a Sunday, the ensuing day will be designated as a replacement holiday.

(d) The GHO stipulates that if in any year two general holidays fall on the same day, the next following day that is not itself a general holiday is to be observed as an additional general holiday in that year. Since the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in 2012 is  September 30, October 1 is the day following the Festival and as this falls on the same day as National Day, the day following National Day will be observed as an additional general holiday.

(e) As mentioned above, since Saturdays are not general holidays under the GHO, there is no arrangement for additional general holiday when a general holiday falls on a Saturday. Furthermore, employees are entitled to days off on statutory holidays under the EO. If an employer requires an employee to work on a statutory holiday, the employer has to grant the employee an alternative holiday or substituted holiday in accordance with the requirements under the Ordinance. The statutory holiday of the National Day in 2011 falls on a Saturday. Save for any alternative holiday arrangements made by individual employers according to the law, all employees are entitled to enjoy a holiday on that day.

Ends/Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:19

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