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EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION (AMENDMENT) BILL 1988
Clauses 4(c) and 7(a) make amendments to require payment of the ate payment surcharge, instead of merely creating a liability.
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Clause 4(d), adding a new section 16A(12), and clause 7(c), adding a new section 17A(2), create new offences for an employer who fails to promptly pay to the injured employee the required compensation and surcharges.
8. Clause 8 amends section 18(2) to extend the time limit for appeals to the court from 30 days to 6 months, making it the same as the time limits for application to the court for cancellation orders under sections 16B(2) and 17B(2).
9. Section 30(4) of the Ordinance, respecting testimony of witnesses outside Hong Kong, is re-enacted as a separate section 30A to make clear its application to the whole Ordinance, not just section 30 (Clauses 9 and 10).
10. Clause 10 adds a new section 30B extending the application of the Ordinance to workers employed in Hong Kong by Hong Kong employers and who are injured at work performed outside Hong Kong. The new section offsets an award of foreign compensation against an award under the principal Ordinance.
11. Clause 11 deletes section 36D(2)(a) which required the Director of Medical and Health Services to give the employer "particulars of the accident and the injury caused thereby" when claiming the costs of fitting the employee with a prosthesis or surgical appliance. The employer already has these particulars and therefore the requirement in this section is superfluous and merely causes delay.
12. Clause 12 amends section 40 to make it clear that employers of employees who work outside Hong Kong need not obtain insurance in respect of damages awarded by a court outside Hong Kong.
13. Clause 13 amends section 41 to remove the requirement that an employer post the insurance notice at the place of work of an employee working outside Hong Kong.
14. Clause 14 amends section 45C(1)(a) to enable the Commissioner to require the employer to provide insurance documentation relevant to “a date specified in the notice", not merely as at "the date of the notice" which the Commissioner gives to the employer. Under the new subsection (1A), the employer is not required to produce documents more than 3 years old.
15. Clause 15 adds a transitional provision to section 55 of the Ordinance so that the parts of the Bill relating to--
(a) the Commissioner for Labour's new jurisdiction referred to in
paragraph 5;
(b) the extended jurisdiction of the Ordinance in respect of injuries to
workers outside Hong Kong; and
(c) the extended time for appeal under section 18,
apply only to accidents that occur after the amendments come into force.
16. The amendments have no Public Service staffing or public ex- penditure implications.
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