TNAG-1363-FCO40-1809-Hong-Kong-Hansard-reports-and-minutes-of-the-meetings-of-the-1985 — Page 237

Speech by the Commissioner for Labour

in moving the Second Reading of

the Contracts for Overseas Employment (Amendment) Bill 1985

in the Legislative Council on 10 July 1985

Sir,

I move that the Contracts for Overseas Employment

(Amendment) Bill 1985 be read a second time.

In July 1984, following publicity about a dispute

affecting Hong Kong workers in Sri Lanka, Dr. HO Kam-fai asked

il

a question in this Council about the adequacy of the Contracts

for Overseas Employment Ordinance.

Subsequently, a review of this Ordinance was under-

taken. The present Bill is the result of this review and

provides for a number of amendments.

The main weakness of the present Ordinance is that

it does not provide for any penalties for non-compliance. The

Bill seeks to meet this point by providing for a maximum penalty

of a fine of $50,000 for an employer or his agent who either

fails to comply with the Ordinance himself or solicits or

induces a worker to leave Hong Kong to take up employment

without complying with the Ordinance.

Because of the difficulty of taking legal action

against employers who are not resident in Hong Kong, it is

proposed that the Ordinance shall also apply to employers'

agents in Hong Kong, and their liability to prosecution is made

clear in the Bill.

Persons migrating for employment are to

be excepted but in such cases the Commissioner for Labour must

certify that he is satisfied that the employee will be accepted

for permanent settlement in the country in which he will be

employed.

The Bill also provides for the amendment of a

number of expressions which are either out-of-date or misleading.

These provisions include :