TNAG-0454-FCO40-519-Application-of-international-labour-conventions-to-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 30

Hours of Work and Weekly Rest

4.

There are no statutory provisions in Hong Kong to restrict the hours of work in the commercial sector. However, under section 17 of the Employment Ordinance, Chapter 57, which affords protection to all manual workers, and non-manual workers whose monthly earnings do not exceed HK$2,000, every employee who has been employed by the same employer under a continuous contract shall be granted not less than four rest days in each month. kest days shall be in addition to any statutory holiday or any alternative holiday in substitution of a statutory holiday to which an employee is entitled under this crdinance. Although the entitlement to four rest days a month for non-manual workers is restricted to those earning HK$2,000 or less a month, a fairly large percentage of employees in the commercial sector are affected because their wages generally do not exceed the prescribed maximum. For operational reasons as well as the need to reduce overheads, some employers in the commercial sector are granting all employees, irrespective of their earnings, four rest days a month. In addition, the Workmen's Compensation Ordinance, Chapter 282, which applies to all manual workers as well as to non-manual workers whose average earnings do not exceed HK$2,000 a month, enables a majority of workers in the commercial and service sectors to receive compensation payable under this ordinance for personal injury or death by occupational disease or by accidents arising out of and in the course of employment.

5.

The Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30) is not ratified by the United Kingdom Government and has therefore not been declared applicable to Hong Kong. Common practice in a number of sectors of trade and commerce does, however, go some way to giving effect to some of the provisions under this convent ion. Despite that information available is far from complete, it is known that a large proportion of commercial and trading establishments, including banks, work

These to an eight-hour day and a five-and-a-half day week. hours include the mid-day lunch break which usually lasts for one hour. In a large number of establishments, smaller Chinese enterprises and retail-shops in particular, employees work longer hours, normally nine hours a day, on six days a week.

16.....

2 -

Page 30Page 31