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loss of career. The loss of career factors therefore have no relevance here;
doubly so because the incentive payments will go to those who continue their
career, but not to those who voluntarily abandon
it.
Nevertheless, their
continued use in a modified form could be interpreted as an admission that
loss of career has occurred. On the other hand the option to pay 25% of
salary is broadly consistent with the incentive payments made in other
territories to attract and retain expatriate staff, and would not be open to
such an interpretation. The other point you make about the younger officers,
whilst potentially correct, does not strike me as being as significant as your
draft suggests. All officers would be better off initially under the salary
based system, including the younger ones. And most would continue to be
better off if they remained for only a few years beyond 1997, as predicted by
Hong Hong.
10. The meaning of paragraph 16 is not entirely clear to me. The option
referred to in paragraph 15 is generally more generous than the outline scheme
approved by Ministers previously and was conceived before Tiananmen.
I see,
however, that it is described as an enhanced "post-Tiananmen" scheme in
paragraph 17. As I have said, if it is seen by yourself and the Governor as
being unnecessarily generous, and without particular merit, it might be better
to exclude it from the submission.
11.
to
terms is
Again, paragraph 24 could be more convincing, though the reference
continuing service in other territories only being on contract
incorrect and needs to be removed.
"However, the proposed compensation/incentive scheme can be defended on
the grounds that
The officers have clearly not been
-
concerned.
abandoned. The Joint Declaration
•
·
•
than before, and the scheme adds
a considerable further incentive. It is true that no special provision
has been made for those who choose to give up their career in 1997, but
since 1988 their terms have allowed them to leave service early and to
receive a deferred pension at normal retirement age. Any enhancement to
this, such as the immediate payment of pension, would be likely to
encourage officers to leave Hong Kong service, as indeed it did in other
territories where this provision applied."
3.
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