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Mr. Quart
An encouraging result
PS/Lord Gorenwy Roberts
HONG KONG : LABOUR TRIBUNAL
1.
Pace 28
The Labour Tribunal, which took over work hitherto handled by
the District Court, was set up to provide a speedy means, inexpensive
for employers and their employees, to settle monetary claims arising from disputes over alleged non-observance of the terms of contracts of employment or the provisions of the Employment Ordinance and
related legislation. The results achieved by the Tribunal have been encouraging. It was originally estimated that it would only handle
about 500 claims a year; but in fact it dealt with 1,144 cases during its first year in operation. The increasing volume of work made it necessary for a second Tribunal to be set up. This came into operation on 1 March this year.
2.
Section 47 of the Ordinance setting up the Labour Tribunal
stipulates that the Ordinance should expire on 31st December 1975
unless it is renewed or further extended. We have received from Hong Kong a copy of the Labour Tribunal (Amendment) Bill 1974, together with a covering Memorandum for Executive Council. The Bill
proposes to establish the Labour Tribunal on a permanent basis and
at the same time makes minor amendments to some of the legal procedures
applicable to the Tribunal. The Bill was considered by Executive
Council on 7 May and introduced into the Legislative Council with one
amendment. This was that application for leave to appeal should be made to the District Court only and not the Tribunal.
3. I think this can be considered an encouraging development.
sed
Goronwy, Roberts
R.b. horn
с
R B Crowson
2116
Hong Kong and Indian Ocean Dept
18 June 1974
cc Overseas Labour Adviser
Miss Swan (GGD)
The first tribunal was
act
up in
March
1973. Its
confirmation and extension to a second tritural are
encouraging.
ACSES 1/6
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