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"This simplified notification procedure will save administrative work for both the employers and the Labour Department," the spokesman said.
It is also proposed under the bill that payments from this category of claims may also be recovered as a civil debt in the Small Claims Tribunal, rather than exclusively in the District Court.
"This will relieve the District Court of the burden to handle the expected increase in the number of claims, and will reduce the waiting time. In effect, this will put the procedures for this category of claims on a par with those for claiming medical expenses," the spokesman explained.
These two Bills will be introduced into the Legislative Council on July 10.
End
HK's enviable finances a result of balancing the books: FS
The enviable state of Hong Kong's public finances was not a fluke but a direct consequence of its basic principle of balancing the books, the Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, said today (Friday).
He said Hong Kong's state of public finance emerged directly from its underlying belief in small governments and big citizens and was reward for its courage in exercising the 'tough love' of tight control of government expenditure and firm adherence to logical revenue principles.
Speaking to the School of Business and Management of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Mr Tsang said the basic principle of Hong Kong's public finances was that the Government should live within its means.
"That does not mean that we can never have a deficit budget. At a time when public investment is very high, or when a short term fall-off in economic growth causes a shortfall in revenue, then it may be that we do run a modest deficit for a year
or two.
"But what it does mean is that we should consciously plan our affairs so that taking several years together Hong Kong's budgets are balanced or in mild surplus," he said.