The Employees' Compensation Ordinance, Cap. 282

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To speed up the settlement of employees’ compensation cases, both the employer and the employee may submit an application to the Labour Department to make use of the “Paper Medical Clearance” ( “PMC” ) to facilitate the issue of the Certificate of Compensation Assessment (Form 5).

• there is no dispute over the case;
• the period of sick leave should last for more than 7 days (if the period of sick leave does not exceed 7 days, the employer and the employee should settle the case via direct payment by employer or determination of compensation by agreement in accordance with section 10(11) or section 16CA of the Ordinance respectively);
• the injury does not lead to any permanent incapacity;
• the injury does not involve damage to teeth or the need for fitting of prostheses or surgical appliances;
• all medical certificates are issued by registered medical practitioners, registered Chinese medicine practitioners or registered dentists;
• the employee’s sick leave has already come to an end;
• the employer must provide copy of all of the employee’s medical certificates in respect of the employees’ compensation case; and
• for occupational disease case, it should be the one specified in the Second Schedule of the Ordinance as advised by the Occupational Health Officer of the Labour Department.

If the case meets the above requirements, an employer may submit an application according to the following situations:

(i) An application made by both parties

If both the employer and the employee agree to settle the case by PMC, the employer may complete and submit the application form signed by both parties, together with the required documents, to the Labour Department. A Certificate of Compensation Assessment (Form 5) stating the amount of compensation payable under Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (“ECO”) to settle the case will be issued to both the employer and the employee after the application is approved.

(ii) An application made solely by an employer without the consent of an employee. Applicable to the following two situations:

Situation 1:

The employer proposes to settle the case by PMC, but is unable to have the employee signed the application form.

Situation 2:

The Labour Department has issued a notification to the employee to attend the medical clearance interview in person at Occupational Medicine Unit (“OMU”), but despite being repeatedly urged to do so, the employee still fails to attend the appointment on time rendering the case cannot be formally settled.

In the above two situations, the employer may, together with required documents, return a completed and signed application form to the Labour Department first. The Labour Department will then issue a letter to inform the employee that the case will be handled by PMC. Unless the employee objects to this arrangement, the Labour Department will issue a Certificate of Compensation Assessment (Form 5) to both parties stating the amount of compensation payable under ECO to settle the case.

If the application is approved, the employee will not be required to attend the medical clearance in person at the OMU of the Labour Department. The application form is available at the offices of Employees’ Compensation Division and the website of the Labour Department (attachment of Form 2).

If the case meets the conditions mentioned in A1 above, an employee may submit a completed and signed application form to the Labour Department. If the application is approved, the employee will not be required to attend the medical clearance in person at the OMU of the Labour Department and a Certificate of Compensation Assessment (Form 5) will be issued to the employer and the employee so as to settle the case. The employee may approach the case officer of Employees’ Compensation Division to obtain the application form.