EMPLOYMENT
service payment. Employees who have completed five years' service but less than the qualifying length of service appropriate to their age under the old provisions are now eligible for the payment. The difference in the rates of long service payment based on age has also been removed.
Labour Conditions
Children under 15 years of age are prohibited by the Employment of Children Regulations from undertaking employment in any industrial undertaking. Children aged 13 and 14 may be employed in non-industrial establishments subject to stringent conditions which aim to ensure a minimum of nine years' education and to protect their safety, health and welfare.
Under the Women and Young Persons (Industry) Regulations, persons aged between 15 and 17, and women, are permitted to work eight hours a day and six days a week in industry. However, by agreement between the employer and the women and young persons concerned, their daily working hours may be extended to 10 provided that the total number of hours worked, excluding overtime, in a fortnight does not exceed 96. Women and young persons must be given a break of at least 30 minutes after five hours' continuous work.
In industry, overtime employment of a female worker 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. The Commissioner for Labour may, under special circumstances, increase the hours of overtime employment allowed for female workers in an industrial undertaking.
The regulations also prohibit women and young persons from working underground or, with the exception of young males aged 16 and 17, in dangerous trades.
The enforcement of these regulations is carried out by the Labour Inspectorate of the Labour Department. In 1991, labour inspectors made 220 828 day and night inspections to places of employment and conducted eight special campaigns to 26 969 establishments against the employment of children. During the year, 92 cases of child employment were brought before the courts.
Three special teams of labour inspectors are responsible for monitoring employers' compliance with the provisions of the Employment Ordinance concerning rest days, paid holidays and annual leave, sickness allowance and maternity protection in respect of local workers. Two other special teams of labour inspectors monitor employers' compliance with these provisions and contractual terms of employment for workers employed under the various Importation of Labour Schemes. In 1991, the teams made 5 723 inspections to enforce provisions of the Employment Ordinance for both local and imported workers and contractual terms of employment for imported workers.
Control of Illegal Employment
Employers are prohibited, under the Immigration Ordinance, from employing persons with no valid proof of identity. The Immigration Ordinance also requires all employees at workplaces to produce proof of identity for inspection and employers to maintain records of their employees. These requirements are intended to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into Hong Kong. The Labour Inspectorate is empowered by the ordinance to enter places of employment and inspect records for employees and employees' proof of identity.
During the year, 409 employees failed to produce valid proof of identity for inspection by labour inspectors. All of them were referred to the Immigration Department or the
107