Explanatory Memorandum.
This Bill amends the Employment Ordinance to
provide for severance payments for employees who, in
specified circumstances, are dismissed by reason of
redundancy or are laid off.
Clause 3 adds a nev Part IIIA, consisting of
sections 20B to 20R, to the principal Ordinance.
Section 20C provides that, subject to other
provisions in the new Part IIIA, an employee who, having
been employed for a minimum of 24 months, is either
dismissed by reason of redundancy or is laid off is entitled
to a severance payment. Domestic servants are given the
same rights as other employees by treating the maintenance
of a household as if it were the carrying on of a business.
Section 20D contains exclusions from the right
to a severance payment. The excluded cases are where
(a) the employee's contract is terminated for cause
under section 8;
(b) the employer offers to renew the employee's
contract or to re-engage him under a new contract
on terms identical or similar to his existing
contract and the employee unreasonably refuses
that offer; or
(c) the employee ceases work before the expiration
of notice given to him under section 5 without the
employer's consent or a payment in lieu of notice.
Section 20E determines what is meant by "dismissal"
by an employer for the purposes of liability to make a
severance payment and section 20F prescribes what is meant
by "lay-off".