TNAG-0087-FCO40-123-Conditions-of-employment-for-Hong-Kong-Chinese-working-in-th-1969 — Page 10

issued by the Hong Kong Government for the

guidance of employers and employees alike.

This in itself is not a document prescribed by

It does no more than suggest a form

statute.

of contract which would meet with the approval

of the Commissioner of Labour for purposes of

attestation. To this end it includes a

suggested form of words for clauses dealing with

matters whose inclusion the Commissioner of

Labour is bound by statute to insist upon;

other details are optional. Even much of what

is inserted in the mandatory clauses (e.g.

wage rates, overtime pay, hours of work,

holidays, advances, etc.) is negotiable;

but

the scope for variation of the mandatory clauses

is limited since they must conform with the

requirements of Section 5(2) of the Hong Kong

Ordinance concerned (Contracts for Overseas

Employment Ordinance).

All this has been

explained to Mr. Burn by his legal adviser.

I now turn to the employer's liability to

pay the alien worker's passage to this country.

imposes

The Ordinance (Section 5(2)(j), requires this libbly

and the model contract contains a clause which

makes provision for the termination of the

The

contract by worker, without commitment to

repay any part of the expenses incurred by the

employer in regard to his passage to the United

Kingdom. It is not, I think you will agree,

brings unreasonable to expect an employer who recruit

alien workers from so far away as Hong Kong to

bear the sole responsibility for the recruit-

mant expenses that he incurs.

/The Hong Kong ...

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