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"Experience in administering the Ordinance has revealed that the Agreement System involves a more time-consuming procedure as it requires both the employer and the injured employee to agree on the amount of compensation. The average time taken is 55 days.
"In order to reduce the lead-time in the assessment of claims and avoid the confusion caused by the existence of two systems, it is proposed to repeal the Agreement System and extend the Certificate System to all cases involving permanent incapacity," the spokesman said.
Another area of improvement involves the amendment of the definition of "dependants".
"The present provision covers only 'woman' and it is proposed to replace it by 'person' so that both sexes are entitled to equal protection.
"It is also proposed to extend the definition of 'member of the family' to cover parents-in-law, brothers-in-law and sons-in-law."
The Government also proposes to increase the levels of maximum fines for a number of offences. For some very serious offences, the maximum fine would be revised from $20,000 to $100,000. An example of a very serious offence is for an employer to terminate the contract of service or apprenticeship of an employee during incapacity.
"The proposed revision is to ensure sufficient deterrent effect and to maintain relativity with those offences of a similar nature under the Employment Ordinance," the spokesman said.
The levels of maximum fines were last revised in 1992.
End
Membership of Language Fund Advisory Committee extended
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The Government announced today (Friday)that the term of appointment of the membership of the Language Fund Advisory Committee will be extended to September 30, 1996.
A Government spokesman pointed out that the decision to extend the term of appointment is to enable the Committee to continue to discharge its functions until the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research is set up.