1408
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ·
- 18 May 1988
Enforcement of judgements of Labour Tribunal
5. MR. TAM asked (in Cantonese): As some claimants who have won their cases in the Labour Tribunal are not able to obtain the awards due to them from their employers, will Government inform this Council of the number of cases heard in the Labour Tribunal during the past five years and the number of cases in which the employers refused to observe the judgements given; and whether consideration will be given to amending section 38 of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance in order to give the tribunal direct enforcement power to ensure that its judgements are properly observed?
SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, in the past five financial years, the Labour Tribunal has dealt with a total of 21 937 cases. Sixteen thousand two hundred and seventy-three of these were decided in favour of the plaintiff, and in 14 590 of these the claim was settled immediately. The proportion of cases being settled immediately has been increasing and in 1987-88 was 91.4 per cent, which I understand compares favourably with other courts.
In the remaining 1 683 cases, enforcement certificates had to be issued after employers failed to settle in accordance with the judgement of the tribunal. These certificates enable the judgement to be registered with the District Court for enforcement.
If the Labour Tribunal were to enforce its own judgements, it would have the power only to order the seizure of movable property. Section 6 of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance already provides for bailiffs to be attached to the tribunal for this purpose. However, this provision has not so far been used. The reason for this is that in practice it is more effective to enforce payment through the District Court or to use bankruptcy or winding-up petitions in the High Court.
Bankruptcy proceedings are liable to take some time to settle, but meanwhile, the plaintiff can apply for an ex gratia payment from the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund. The Labour Department advises all those pursuing a claim in the Labour Tribunal to apply at the same time to this fund.
Bankruptcy petitions are limited to claims for $5,000 and over. However, I shall shortly be recommending to this Council an amendment to the Insolvency Fund Ordinance to allow ex gratia payments to be made even in those cases where the amount owed is less than this $5,000 threshold.
Sir, the short answer to the question is that there appears to be no point in amending section 38 of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance to give the tribunal enforcement powers, since it already has such powers under section 6 of the Ordinance. However, these powers are not used because in practice it is more effective to use other means.