ENG-1989 — Page 128

EMPLOYMENT

The Employment of Children Regulations, made under the Employment Ordinance, prohibit the employment of children under 15 in any industrial undertakings. Children who have attained the age of 13 may be employed in non-industrial establishments, subject to stringent conditions which aim at ensuring a minimum of nine years education and protecting their health, safety and welfare.

Under the Women and Young Persons (Industry) Regulations, young persons aged 15 to 17 and women are permitted to work eight hours a day and six days a week in industry. By agreement between the employer and employees, their working hours may exceed eight on one or more days in any week or 48 in a week, provided that the total number of hours worked (excluding overtime) does not exceed 96 hours in any two consecutive weeks, but in any case the maximum working hours per day (including overtime) remain at 10. Women and young persons must be given a break of at least 30 minutes after five hours of continuous work.

In industry, overtime employment for women is restricted to two hours a day and 200 hours a year, while persons under the age of 18 are not permitted to work overtime. The Commissioner for Labour may, under special circumstances, increase the hours of overtime employment allowed for an industrial undertaking. As a general rule, overtime employment for women is reckoned by reference to an industrial undertaking. However, an employer may, subject to compliance with conditions imposed by the Commissioner for Labour, opt to calculate overtime by reference to different parts of his undertaking, or to different sets of women in different processes, or to the individual woman.

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Women are usually not allowed to work after 11 pm and before 6 am, while persons under the age of 18 are prohibited from working between 7 pm and 7 am. Permission has been given by the Commissioner for Labour to some large factories - mostly those engaged in cotton-spinning to employ women at night, subject to certain stringent conditions. Women and young persons must not be employed on more than six days in any week. The regulations also prohibit them from working underground and provide that, except with the written permission of the Commissioner for Labour, no person shall employ any female person of whatever age or any male person under 16 years of age in a dangerous trade.

In 1989, the Labour Inspectorate of the Women and Young Persons Division made 219 217 day and night inspections of both industrial and non-industrial establishments and conducted four special campaigns against the employment of children and illegal immigrants, covering 11 128 establishments. During the year, 159 cases of child em- ployment involving 159 children were brought before the courts.

In addition, a special team of labour inspectors is responsible for monitoring employers' compliance with the provisions of the Employment Ordinance concerning rest days, statutory holidays, annual paid leave, sickness allowance, maternity leave pay and the keeping and maintenance of records relating to statutory benefits.

From July 1, a general enquiry telephone service has been set up to provide information for the public in the form of pre-recorded tapes in both English and Chinese. The tapes cover 26 topics under the Employment Ordinance, Protection of Wages on Insolvency Ordinance, Employees' Compensation Ordinance and matters relating to the employment of foreign domestic helpers.

Controls on Illegal Employment

Employers are prohibited, under the Immigration Ordinance, from employing persons who have no valid proof of identity and those Vietnamese refugees who are not permitted to obtain employment. The ordinance also requires all employees to produce proof of identity

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