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CAP. 57]
Employment
[1988 Ed.
(a) is dismissed by his employer by reason of redundancy; or
(b) is laid off within the meaning of section 31E,
the employer shall, subject to this Part and Part VC, be liable to pay to the employee a severance payment calculated in accordance with section 31G. (Amended, 52 of 1988, s. 5)
(2) For the purposes of this Part an employee who is dismissed shall be taken to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is attributable wholly or mainly to the fact that-
(a) his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him;
(b) his employer has moved, or intends to move, the place in which the employee was or is so employed-
(i) from the island of Hong Kong to Kowloon or the New Territories; or
(ii) from Kowloon or the New Territories to the island of Hong Kong; or
(c) the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where the employee was so employed have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish.
(3) For the purposes of the application of this Part to an employee who is employed as a domestic servant in, or in connection with, a private household, this Part (except section 31J) shall apply as if the household were a business and the maintenance of the household were the carrying on of that business by the employer.
[cf. U.K. 1965 c. 62, ss. 1 & 19(1)]
General exclusions from right to severance payment by reason of dismissal
31C. (1) Except as provided by section 31H, an employee shall not be entitled to a severance payment by reason of dismissal where his employer, being so entitled by reason of the employee's conduct, terminates his contract of employment without notice or payment in lieu in accordance with section 9.
(2) An employee shall not be entitled to a severance payment by reason of dismissal if, not less than 7 days before the relevant date, the employer has offered to renew his contract of employment, or to re-engage him under a new contract, so that
(a) the provisions of the contract as renewed, or of the new contract, as the case may be, as to the capacity and place in which he would be employed, and as to the other terms and conditions of his employment, would not differ from the corresponding provisions of the contract as in force immediately before his dismissal; and
(b) the renewal or re-engagement would take effect on or before the relevant date,
and the employee has unreasonably refused that offer.
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