138 Employment
Labour Conditions
The employment of children under 15 is generally prohibited by law. Subject to stringent requirements, children aged 13 and 14 may be employed in non-industrial establishments. Young persons aged 15 to 17 may work in industrial establishments, subject to regulations governing their employment conditions. Specific provisions under labour legislation protect their safety, health and welfare.
Labour inspectors conduct rigorous workplace inspections to monitor employers' compliance with the various provisions of labour legislation to safeguard the statutory rights and benefits of local and imported workers, and to ensure that employers possess valid insurance policies covering their liabilities for work injuries suffered by their employees. Labour inspectors also check employees' proof of identity during workplace inspections and carry out intelligence-led operations with the Police and the Immigration Department to clamp down on illegal employment. In 2006, 189 joint operations were conducted, 7.4 per cent more than in 2005. A total of 502 illegal workers and 231 employers suspected of employing workers illegally were arrested in these operations. The department also publicised widely the complaint hotline (2815 2200) to encourage people to report illegal employment activities.
For government service contracts which involve tenders invited on or after April 2005 and which rely heavily on the deployment of non-skilled workers, the contractors of those contracts have to sign a standard employment contract with the non-skilled workers hired to do the contracted job. The standard employment contract, which sets out the employment terms, helps safeguard the rights and benefits of the non-skilled employees.
Stepping Up Enforcement Against Wage Offences
The Labour Department continued to step up enforcement against wage offences. To this end, it secured convictions for 785 summonses on wage offences in 2006, an all-time high, or 34 per cent up on the conviction of 587 summonses in 2005. Two company directors and an employer were jailed for wage defaults. The department has also strengthened its educational and promotional efforts to remind employers of their statutory obligations to pay wages on time and educate employees on the right to lodge claims and the importance of serving as prosecution witnesses.
Employees' Compensation
In Hong Kong, the employees' compensation system adopts the no-fault principle whereby compensation is payable irrespective of whether the injury, occupational disease or death was the employee's fault. The Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO) covers injuries or death caused by accidents arising out of and in the course of employment or by specified occupational diseases. An employer must be in possession of a valid insurance policy to cover his liabilities both under the ordinance and common law.
The Labour Department launched the Voluntary Rehabilitation Programme on a pilot basis for the construction industry in 2003. The programme aimed at helping construction workers, injured at work, to have better and speedier recovery, and