Butterworths Hong Kong Employees' Compensation Handbook, 7th Edition

 About the book

Butterworths Hong Kong Employees’ Compensation Handbook encompasses up-to-date materials of the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282), a key piece of Hong Kong legislation pertaining to employees’ compensation. Not only does it reproduce the current text of the Ordinance and details of amendments and repeals, the Handbook also provides section-by-section annotations to the Ordinance, while a significant number of judicial decisions and court rules are included in these annotations. In addition, the said annotations contain notes, practical aspects and contentious issues associated with particular sections in a succinct manner, including definitions of words and phrases. Those engaging in or interested in employees’ compensation in Hong Kong, such as lawyers, businesspeople, in-house counsel, company directors, company secretaries, Human resources managers, and judicial officials, will find this Handbook an invaluable companion.

 What’s key in this title

In 2021, the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) was amended to cover situations in which an employee is injured or dies as a consequence of an accident while commuting to or from work during periods of ‘extreme conditions’ resulting from a super typhoon or other major natural disasters. A recent decision has shown that the issue of illegal employment has no place in the assessment under the Ordinance. Further, the court has found that there is no interruption of work notwithstanding that the applicant was not actively at work or taking an ‘unofficially’ acceptable rest by adopting a flexible approach in accordance with the established principles. The court’s view on the need to identify an event or series of events that constitute the ‘accident’ is unwavering. In a recent case, the applicant’s cerebral stroke, which resulted in the loss of consciousness of the applicant was something internal, hence did not constitute an ‘accident’. Recent cases have demonstrated the Court is now open to apply 11(b) of the Ordinance to an applicant who had worked for less than a month so long as it is practical to calculate their monthly remuneration.