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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — 14 March 1984
The Bill now before Council seeks:
to increase the rate of severance pay from one-half to two-thirds month's wage for every year of service for monthly-rated employees and from 13 days to 18 days' wages for time and piece-rated employees; and -to extend the length of time allowed for making claims from one month to
three months.
Sir, as Members will remember, the standards we aim at in this area of legislation were explained by your predecessor in this Council in October 1976 when he said that 'we should set ourselves the target of achieving a level of legislation governing safety, health and conditions of employment at least broadly equivalent to the best in our neighbouring Asian countries whose stage of economic development and social and cultural background are similar to our own.' Comparing standards of severance pay in different Asian countries is not straightforward, because they vary greatly both in systems of payment and, more particularly, in effectiveness of enforcement. However, the proposals in the Bill bring us nearer to the standards which, on paper at least, appear to apply in most Asian countries. The Bill therefore takes us another step forward towards our publicly stated goal.
The Labour Advisory Board has been consulted and unanimously supports the proposal to extend the time limit for claims. The proposal to increase the rate of severance pay has met with mixed reactions. Employers' representatives would prefer to see the rate remain unchanged. Employees' representatives not only support the increased rates of severance pay proposed in the Bill, but would like to see further changes so as to increase the number of employees entitled to it.
The present Bill therefore represents a compromise between these two sets of views. It would be unrealistic to expect it to be welcomed unreservedly by either group, but I hope it will be accepted by both as a reasonable compromise between their conflicting interests. As Mr. T. S. Lo said in this Council on 12 October last year, in the longer term the interests of the two groups do not conflict but are identical.
Sir, I move that the debate be now adjourned.
Motion made. That the debate on the second reading of the Bill be adjourned— COMMISSIONER for Labour.
Question put and agreed to.
FIXED PENALTY (TRAFFIC CONTRAVENTIONS) (AMENDMENT) BILL 1984
Resumption of debate on second reading (15 February 1984)
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.