XN000022-1996-06-27 — Page 83

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Economic sector

No of applications

(b)

Manufacturing

Construction

Wholesale/Retail,

2728

183

2806

Import and Export/

Restaurants & Hotels

Financial & Business Services

213

Personal Services

552

248

6730

Others

Total

The Performance Pledge of the Labour Department in respect of Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund is to complete the processing of applications and the issue of ex-gratia payments to applicants within four to ten weeks after the filing of winding-up or bankruptcy petition against an employer or after the Legal Aid Department has recommended payment without a petition.

In processing the applications, the Wage Security Unit of the Labour Department has to collect wage and employment records from the applicants and their employers, interview the parties concerned and verify the applicants' claims before payments can be made. The time taken in completing these steps varies from case to case. In setting the Performance Pledge, the Labour Department has taken into consideration the actual operational experience and the need to provide prompt relief to applicants. In the past two years, the Labour Department has streamlined the procedures and deployed more manpower for handling the applications. As a result, the average time required for payment to be made from the Fund dropped from 6 months from the date of petition against the employer for 1993/94 to 2.1 months for 1994/95. At present, an applicant will normally receive payment from the Fund within one month. This is a significant improvement.

The Labour Department has also set up a telephone Hotline since February 1996 to provide assistance to hardship cases. So far, 30 applications have been received through the Hotline and 20 applicants have been granted advance payment from the Fund.

End