EMPLOYMENT
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attendance bonuses, free medical treatment and free or subsidised transport. Many employees also enjoy a year-end bonus under their employment contract of one month's pay or more, which is usually paid during the Lunar New Year. In recent years, an increasing number of employers have introduced provident fund schemes to provide improved long term security for their employees.
The Employment of Children Regulations, made under the Employment Ordinance, prohibit the employment of children under the age of 15 in any industrial undertakings. Children who have attained the age of 13 may be employed in non-industrial establish- ments, subject to stringent conditions which aim at ensuring a minimum of nine years education and at protecting their health, safety and welfare.
Under the Women and Young Persons (Industry) Regulations, persons aged 15 to 17 and women are permitted to work eight hours a day and six days a week in industry. By agreement between the employer and the women and young persons employed, the working hours of the woman and young person may exceed eight on one or more days in any week or 48 in a week, provided that the total number of hours worked (excluding overtime) does not exceed 96 hours in any two consecutive weeks, but in any case the maximum working hours per day (including overtime) remain at 10. Women and young persons must be given a break of at least 30 minutes after five hours of continuous work.
Overtime employment for women is restricted to two hours a day and 200 hours a year, while persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to work overtime. However, the Commissioner for Labour may, under special circumstances, increase the hours of overtime employment allowed for an industrial undertaking. As a general rule, overtime employ- ment for women is reckoned by reference to an industrial undertaking. However, an employer may, subject to compliance with conditions imposed by the Commissioner for Labour, opt to calculate overtime by reference to different parts of his undertaking, or to different sets of women in different processes, or to the individual woman.
Women are not usually allowed to work after 11 p.m. and before 6 a.m. while persons under the age of 18 are prohibited from working between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Permission has been given by the Commissioner for Labour to some large factories – mostly those engaged in cotton-spinning to employ women at night, subject to certain stringent conditions. Women and young persons must not be employed on more than six days in any week. The regulations also prohibit women and young persons from working underground and except with the written permission of the Commissioner for Labour, no person shall employ any female person of whatever age or any male young person under 16 years of age in any dangerous trade.
In 1988, the Labour Inspectorate made 227 010 day and night inspections to both industrial and non-industrial establishments; seven special campaigns were conducted against the employment of children and illegal immigrants, covering 26 073 establishments. During the year, 124 cases of child employment involving 124 children were brought before the courts.
From July 1, a special team of Labour Inspectors was set up to monitor employers' compliance with the requirements of the Employment Ordinance concerning rest days, statutory holidays, annual paid leave, sickness allowance and maternity leave pay.
Controls on Illegal Employment
Under the Immigration Ordinance, employers are prohibited from employing persons who have no valid proof of identity and those Vietnamese refugees who are not permitted to obtain employment. The ordinance also requires all employees to produce proof of identity