TNAG-1361-FCO40-1807-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 151

-

- 3

bankruptcy petition will normally be a precondition for payment.

However, the Bill proposes that the Commissioner for Labour

will have discretion to waive this requirement for small

concerns employing less than 20 people, if the amount of wages

claimed or the value of unsecured assets are insufficient to make it economic to institute liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings. Once a worker has been paid wages from the Fund, his rights in

relation to those wages will be transferred to the Fund, but

his other rights to priority payment of other debts, such as

severance pay, will not be affected.

6.

The Bill also proposes consequential amendments to the Business Registration Ordinance, the Employment Ordinance, the

Bankruptcy Ordinance and the Companies Ordinance.

7.

The main effect of the Bill, if enacted, will be

to ensure that workers of companies that become insolvent

receive wages due to them and receive them much more quickly than under existing procedures. I have no doubt that it will be welcomed both by the workers who will benefit from it and by

the public in general.

8.

Sir, I move that the debate be now adjourned.