Labour Advisory Board Report 2011-2012 - Chapter 4

Committee on Employees' Compensation

4.1 Introduction

The Committee on Employees’ Compensation (CEC) has been in place since August 1986 to give advice on the effectiveness of the employees’ compensation system and related legislation.

4.2 Terms of Reference

The committee is established to:

• review the employees' compensation system in Hong Kong;
• advise on legislative proposals on employees’ compensation and review existing legislation; and
• advise on measures to be adopted by the Labour Department (LD) to improve the administrative machinery related to employees’ compensation.

4.3 Composition

Members of CEC are appointed by the Commissioner for Labour. The composition of the committee for the term 2011-2012 is as follows:

Chairman:	Deputy Commissioner for Labour (Labour Administration)
Members:	Three employer representatives from the Labour Advisory Board Three employee representatives from the Labour Advisory Board An employer representative from outside the Labour Advisory Board An employee representative from outside the Labour Advisory Board A representative nominated by the insurance industry A representative from a concern group on employees' compensation A representative nominated by the Hospital Authority A representative nominated by the Director of Legal Aid Assistant Commissioner for Labour (Employees' Rights and Benefits) Occupational Health Consultant (1)
Secretary:	A Labour Officer of the Labour Department

The membership list of CEC for the term 2011-2012 is at Appendix I.

4.4 Activities during the 2011-2012 Term

During the 2011-2012 term, CEC discussed the following matters: Amendments to employees’ compensation legislation and work of LD in the area of employees’ compensation CEC noted the improvements made to the employees’ compensation legislation in 2010 and 2011, as given below: The Occupational Deafness (Compensation) (Amendment) Bill 2009 was passed by the Legislative Council on 3 February 2010 and the amended provisions have been implemented by phases to improve the compensation for persons with occupational deafness and adjust the overall rate and proportions of distribution of the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levy payable under the Employees’ Compensation Insurance Levies Ordinance. To tie in with the implementation of the registration of proprietary Chinese medicines (pCm) to strengthen monitoring on pCm, the provisions on the reimbursement of the cost of registered pCm under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (ECO) and the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance (PMCO) have taken effect from 14 January 2011. CEC noted the work of LD in handling employees’ compensation claims in 2010 and 2011, its publicity and public education campaigns to enhance public understanding of the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers under the ECO as well as its inspection and enforcement efforts relating to the Ordinance. Review of the levels of compensation under ECO, PMCO and Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance (ODCO)

CEC agreed on a proposal to raise the amounts of ten compensation items under the ECO, the PMCO and the ODCO in line with the positive changes of the relevant adjustment indicators in the review period of 2009-2010 while maintaining the amounts of compensation under the ECO and the PMCO at their existing levels in respect of those items which, according to the review findings, would have to be adjusted downward. The proposal was subsequently submitted to the Labour Advisory Board for consideration (see paragraph 3.2).