Political situation
Written by: Zhou Haoyi
2021-05-18 19:54
Last update date: 2021-05-18 19:54
The measure to extend the statutory maternity leave to 14 weeks took effect at the end of last year, and employers can apply for four weeks of statutory maternity leave pay from the government.
The Human Resources Committee of the Legislative Council held a meeting today (18th) to discuss the implementation of the maternity leave pay reimbursement plan.
At the meeting, many members criticized the government's department that pays for maternity leave and over-employed people to handle it.
Government officials responded that the plan involves about 500 million yuan in public funds, which must be handled with care and manpower is required to handle payment and tendering work.
The Government proposes to create a supernumerary post of Chief Labour Affairs Officer to lead and plan the work of the Maternity Leave Reimbursement Division, and to strengthen the regulation of trade unions.
Yao Sirong in the tourism industry questioned the bloated structure of the Maternity Leave Reimbursement Division. The authorities have outsourced front-line work, but still employ 44 people, including 31 civil service positions and 13 contract employees. Approximately 27,000 applications are considered each year, and the criticism is unreasonable. The bed overlaps.
The DAB Zheng Yongshun pointed out that the maternity leave compensation department currently has too many staff and the procedures are too complicated. "Could you tell the director (Luo Zhiguang) to return to the ground".
He continued that he agrees that it is necessary to deal with trade union issues, especially trade unions that violate the trade union regulations and the "Hong Kong National Security Law", but he is concerned about the need to open new positions to deal with them full-time.
Mai Meijuan of the Federation of Trade Unions asked how the newly created positions regulate trade unions and ensure that trade unions abide by the trade union regulations and the "Hong Kong National Security Law."
He Qiming: Manual review of the operation of the new measures will review and improve efficiency
The Deputy Secretary for Labour and Welfare, He Qiming, emphasized that the current departmental structure is not about superimposing houses. Instead, it requires manpower to review the operation of new measures and accurately grant maternity leave allowances. However, the authorities will review how to improve efficiency.
He said that in the past, the workload involved in the trade unions was not much and could be performed concurrently by other colleagues. Now that the related work is increasing, more manpower is needed to handle it, taking into account the citizens' freedom of association and the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.
The Commissioner for Labour, Sun Yukhan, said that the repayment of maternity leave pay involves about 500 million yuan each year and needs to be handled carefully. Even if an agency has been hired to handle front-line work, civil servants still need to formulate specific guidelines, handle payment-related matters, and tender work.
He pointed out that the opening of posts is to strengthen the work of trade union registration, including checking whether the work of the trade union conforms to the association charter. In addition, the number of newly registered trade unions in the past is quite large. It is necessary to strengthen publicity to let the new trade union understand the legal requirements.
Chen Zhenying in the financial sector is concerned about how many people have applied for maternity leave pay through the online platform "Easy-Return".
According to Sun Yuhan, there were 177 applications in April, of which 75% passed the "E-Refund" application, and believed that the "E-Refund" was a successful practice for employers.
14-week maternity leave | Labour Department plans to add a Chief Labour Officer to implement annual expenditures expected to reach 2.71 million
Maternity leave 14 weeks │ The maternity leave compensation plan begins to accept applications, the upper limit is 80,000 yuan per employee
14-week maternity leave | The government gazettes the implementation of the statutory maternity leave from December 11 to 14 weeks
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Maternity Leave Legislative Council Labour and Welfare Bureau Labour Protection Labour Department
