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Wednesday, December 5, 1973
MORE WORKERS ENTITLED TO PAID HOLIDAYS
A leaflet explaining new provisions under which more employees
will be entitled to paid holidays has been prepared by the Labour Department.
The new provisions, which come into effect on January 1, 1974, apply
to all manual workers irrespective of earnings and to those non-manual
workers earning $1,500 a month or less and who have worked continuously for
their employer at least three months before a statutory holiday.
These are: Lunar New Year's day; the second day of Lunar New
Year; Ching Ming Festival; Tuen Ng (Dragon Boat) Festival; the day following
the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival; and the first day of January.
Under the new provisions, restaurant workers and shop assistants
will enjoy the same benefits as industrial workers. Previously, the
benefits applied only to manual workers and non-manual workers in industry
with a monthly earning of up to $700 and who had been with their employer
for more than six months.
An employer may give his employee an alternative holiday before
or after a statutory holiday, provided he gives sufficient notice and the
employee agrees.
Details of these arrangements are explained in the leaflet which
also sets out the methods of calculating the rate of holiday pay, and payment.
Employers who fail to grant their employees any holiday or the
holiday pay due will be liable to a fine of $5,000 on conviction.
Copies of the leaflet, in both English and Chinese, are available
free of charge from the Labour Department's branch offices, City District
Offices and District Offices of the New Territories Administration.
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