- 13.
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Let me now turn to the provisions on maternity protection. At present, a female employee who has been employed by the same employer under a continuous contract for a period of not less than 26 weeks shall be entitled to maternity leave. However, the law is silent on how to count the 26 weeks when the pregnant employee is about to take maternity leave. We propose to remove this ambiguity by specifying in the law that the 26-week period should be counted backward from the expected date of commencement of maternity leave. To improve protection to pregnant employees, we also propose to make late payment of maternity leave pay an offence liable to a maximum fine of $10,000.
Under the existing provisions of the Employment Ordinance, an employer is not liable to pay sickness allowance to an employee unless the employee meets the specific requirements in the Ordinance. Among other things, the day of sickness has to be specified in an appropriate medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner. However, as the law now stands, a medical certificate issued by a registered dentist is not regarded as an appropriate medical practition certificate. An employee having encountered a dental injury or received a dental surgical operation requiring a few days' sick leave is at present unable to receive any sickness allowance. To rectify this anomaly, we now propose to include the medical certificate issued by a registered dentist as a valid document for the purpose of claiming sickness allowance.
Mr President, the proposals in the Bill are the result of the very careful deliberations by the Labour Advisory Board (LAB). They contain further improvements to provisions in the earlier version of the Bill which was withdrawn before the Third Reading on 14 December 1994. Those earlier proposals had been recommended by the LAB and represented the delicate balance achieved through serious negotiations by the employers' and employees' representatives serving on the Board. We therefore felt it was essential to take the matter back to the LAB for further discussion. I should like to reassure this Council that the sole purpose was to enable us to consult the LAB again on the important issue of severance payment and long service payment. This new package of improvements put together by the LAB at two special meetings last month takes fully into account the interests of both the employers and the employees and the views of this Council and the community. I am pleased to note there has been general support for this new package.
I should like to take this opportunity to place on record my thanks to the members of the LAB for their understanding, co-operation and patience in the formulation of the package of proposals in this Bill. The progressive improvement to the LSP and SP with a definite timetable is a major step forward in improving employees' welfare.
I should also like to thank Members of the LegCo Manpower Panel for their support of the proposals in this Bill and I share their wish for a speedy passage through the Council today.
End/Wednesday, January 18, 1995