TNAG-0966-FCO40-1185-Legislation-for-employment-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 16

REPORT BY PRESIDING OFFICER, LABOUR TRIBUNAL

By Ordinance No 41/79, the Labour Tribunal Ordinance, Cap. 25 of Laws of Hong Kong was amended to extend the jurisdiction of the Labour Tribunal from 6 months to 12 months from the date when the cause of action arose. This amendment came into operation on 22. 6. 1979. Claim-file by claim-file research reveals the following statistics of the types and numbers of additional cases heard between 22.6. 1979 and 31.8.1980 as a direct result of this amendment:

(a) 204 claims for annual leave pay under Part VIII A of

the Employment Ordinance, Cap. 57.

(b) 19 claims for statutory holiday pay under Part VIII

of the Employment Ordinance.

(c) 13 claims for double pay and bonus.

(d) 34 other claims such as wages in lieu of notice of termination of service, severance pay and breach of a term of contract of employment, etc.

These additional cases heard were cases where the cause of action arose more than 6 months prior to the respective dates on which claims were filed. These cases would have been dealt with by the District Court (those in excess of $3,000 each) or the Small Claims Tribunal, had there been no extension of the Labour Tribunal's jurisdiction to

12 months.

2

Section 13 of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance imposes a statutory duty on the Labour Tribunal to hear a claim within 30 days from the date of filing claim and there has thus been a more speedy processing and a more speedy solution of these claims. The desired effect that claims best suited to the practice and procedure of the Tribunal should be heard by the Labour Tribunal as envisaged in the Explanatory Memorandum to the Labour Tribunal (Amendment) Bill C149 of Legal Supplement No 3 dated 1.6.1979 is being achieved. A side effect is that there has been some increase in the work-load of the Labour Tribunal.

3

By Ordinance No 26/79, the Employment Ordinance, Cap. 57 was amended to extend the application of the Employment Ordinance to cover non-manual workers whose wages exceed $2,000 but not $3,500. The amendment came into operation on 27. 4. 1979. Up to 31.8.1980,

27.4. 280 claims by persons having monthly wages of over $2,000 but not over $3,500 were heard before the Labour Tribunal. But for the amendment, the claimants would not have been able to claim the statutory benefits bestowed by the Employment Ordinance such as leave pay, severance pay and wages in lieu of notice of termination of service as specific statutory items before the Labour Tribunal. To this extent, the desired effect appears to have been achieved as far as those claimants were concerned.

9th August 1980