TNAG-1735-FCO40-2448-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 147

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 18 May 1988

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MR. TAM (in Cantonese): Sir, we have 1 000 odd cases in which payment could not be made. This is not a small number. On top of that, because of the very complicated procedure, sometimes the enforcement certificates have not been applied for. I cannot see from the reply what sort of measures have been taken to improve the situation. The Secretary for Education and Manpower has just told us that there is no need to amend section 38 of the Ordinance. Could we be informed what measures could be taken to improve the situation for the 1 000 odd remaining cases?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, the Labour Department has been in frequent touch and had a number of meetings with the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the Director of Legal Aid and my branch to discuss improve- ments to the procedure. A number have been made, mostly in points of detail. Some of the more substantial ones I have already mentioned. The Labour Department, for example, now advises all plaintiffs to apply to the insolvency fund as soon as they apply to the Labour Tribunal. When they receive an enforcement order, that is accompanied by a note to the plaintiff advising them to go to the Labour Department for help. The insolvency fund itself, of course, has only been operational since 1985 so that is an enormous improvement in the position of plaintiffs. One of the main drawbacks at present is the $5,000 limit which we will be putting right, we hope, within the next few weeks by an amendment to the Ordinance which I have already mentioned. Other problems are being looked at from time to time. Another one is the enforcement orders with the district court. At present, the plaintiff has to go to another building to register his enforcement order. We have asked the registrar whether he can improve that situation by providing for registration in the Labour Tribunal itself. But turning back to Mr. TAM's comment on the large number of cases, I did make the point that this is the number of cases over a five-year period and I did make the point that, in fact, this is a small proportion of cases. These of course are the tough cases. The vast majority, over 90 per cent, are settled straight away. The ones that are not settled are, in the very nature of things, difficult ones. They are mostly cases where the employer has disappeared or is bankrupt or is just being bloody minded; so it is not a straight forward matter to deal with.

MR. CHAN KAM-CHUEN: Sir, what is the estimated number of cases in the past five years where the amount owed was less than the $5,000 threshold as mentioned in paragraph 5 of the Secretary's reply?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND MANPOWER: Sir, I do not have figures of that.

MR. CHAN KAM-CHUEN: May I have that in writing?

SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION and ManpowER: I will try; I am not sure whether we have those figures available. (See Annex III)