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

re:

ORIENTAL DOMESTICS (LONDON) LIMITED

ADVICE

The preamble of the Contracts for overseas

employment Ordinance No. 8 of 1965 states that its object

is to control contracts of employment entered into in the

colony by manual workers proceeding overseas for employment

By section 2 a manual worker includes personal and domestic

servants.

Part II of the ordinance deals with the control of

overseas contracts and section 5 thereof provides that

such contracts are to be in writing and sub-paragraph (2)

provides that the contract shall contain all such particular s

as may be necessary to define the rights and obligations

of the parties thereto and shall include in all cases the

particulars set out under (a) to (n) inclusive and (0)

other special conditions of the contract.

•

འ ་་ ་

I can find nothing in the ordinance that empowers

the Commissioner to dictate to the would be parties to a

contract what terms they are to agree upon, e.g. the

Commissioner is not empowered to dictate or demand what wage

should be paid, how advances of wages should be repaid.

what lengths of notice to determine the contract should

be given etc., etc. If the Commissioner sought to do

he would without statutory authority be interfering with

the liberty of the subject. The only restrictions on the

liberty of the parties to a contract to contract freely

are expressly set out in section 5 namely.

(h)

a stipulation that the contract shall not

be transferred without the consent of the worker

freely given and with the official endorsement by

the appropriate officer in the county of employment.