A Concise Guide to the Employees’ Compensation …

1 A Concise Guide to the Employees Compensation Ordinance (with Frequently Asked Questions on Common Employees Compensation Issues) Labour Department February 2018 Edition Table of Contents Page Introduction 1- 2 Part I Chapter 1 Application of the Ordinance 3 Chapter 2 Liability for Compensation for Work Injury and Occupational Disease Injury by Accident 4 - 5 Occupational Disease 5 - 6 Chapter 3 Notification of Accidents 7 Chapter 4 Settlement of Employees Compensation Claims 8 - 10 Chapter 5 Amount of Compensation Fatal Cases 11 Non-fatal Cases Permanent Incapacity 11 - 12 Temporary Incapacity 12 - 13 Medical Expenses 13 - 15 Prostheses and Surgical Appliances 15 - 16 Note.

2 Compensation Level of Various Items 17 - 18 Chapter 6 Calculation of Earnings 19 - 20 Chapter 7 Assessment of Permanent Loss of Earning Capacity 21 - 22 Chapter 8 Compulsory Insurance 23 - 25 Chapter 9 Miscellaneous Medical Examination and Treatment 26 - 27 Liability of the Principal Contractor 27 - 28 Claims for Common Law Damages 28 Contracting Out 29 Employment Protection 29 Appendices 1. First Schedule - List of Injuries 30 - 33 2. Second Schedule List of Occupational Diseases 34 - 44 Part II Frequently Asked Questions on Common Employees Compensation Issues 45 - 57 A list of commonly used prescribed forms under the Employees Compensation Ordinance 58 - 1 - This Guide , in its first part, sets out briefly the main provisions of the Employees Compensation Ordinance, Chapter 282 of the Laws of Hong Kong.

3 The Ordinance lays down the rights and obligations of employers and employees in respect of injuries or death caused by accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, or by prescribed occupational diseases under the Ordinance. While every care has been exercised in preparing this Guide , the Ordinance remains the sole authority for the provisions of the law explained. The full text of the Ordinance has been uploaded to the Bilingual Laws Information System of the Department of Justice ( ). The second part is a question-and-answer section on some common employees Compensation issues which aims at explaining the procedures and administrative measures adopted by the Employees Compensation Division of the Labour Department in handling and processing employees Compensation claims; as well as answering some frequently asked questions in relation to the Ordinance.

4 It also lists out the commonly used prescribed forms under the Ordinance. This Guide and other publications related to employees Compensation have been uploaded to the Labour Department website ( ). If you have queries about the Ordinance, please call 2717 1771 (the hotline is handled by the 1823 ). For enquiries on individual Compensation claims, please approach the relevant office of the Employees Compensation Division of the Labour Department: Introduction - 2 - Branch Office of the Employees Compensation Division, Labour Department [Work injury cases: according to place of accident ] Prescribed Occupational Disease cases.

5 According to place of employment] Address Hong Kong Office (cases on Hong Kong Island, outlying Islands and outside Hong Kong) Rm 1605, 16/F, Southorn Centre, 130 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Kowloon Office (cases in Kowloon, Sai Kung and cases involving seamen and government employees) Rm 1007, 10/F, Cheung Sha Wan Government Offices, 303 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Kowloon Tsuen Wan Office (cases in Kwai Chung, Tsing Yi, Tsuen Wan, Tuen Mun and Yuen Long) 6/F, Tsuen Wan Government Offices, 38 Sai Lau Kok Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories Shatin Office (cases in Shatin, Taipo, Fanling and North District) Rm 239, 2/F, Shatin Government Offices, 1 Sheung Wo Che Road, Shatin, New Territories Fatal Cases Office Rm 601, 6/F, Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, Central, Hong Kong Office Hours: Mondays to Fridays: 9:00 to 1:00 2:00 to 6:15 Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: Closed - 3 - Part I The Ordinance applies to all full-time or part-time employees who are employed under contracts of service or apprenticeship.

6 The Ordinance also applies to employees employed in Hong Kong by local employers injured while working outside Hong Kong. Even if the employer is a person carrying on business outside Hong Kong, the Ordinance still applies if the employer submits to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Hong Kong and the employees have been recruited or engaged in Hong Kong. The Ordinance also applies to crew members of a Hong Kong ship, and any person employed in any capacity on board of a Hong Kong ship. If the employee is a crew member of a foreign ship and have been recruited or engaged in Hong Kong, even if the accident causing the personal injury occurred outside Hong Kong, the Ordinance still applies if the employer submits to the jurisdiction of the Courts of Hong Kong.

7 The Ordinance does not apply to: (a) casual employees (but still applies to part-time domestic helpers, employees employed either for the purposes of the employer s trade or business, or for the purposes of any game or recreation and are engaged or paid through a club); or (b) outworkers; or (c) members of the employer s family who live with him (but still applies if an employees Compensation insurance policy under this Ordinance is in force in respect of such family members). Chapter 1 Application of the Ordinance - 4 - Injury by Accident If an employee sustains an injury or dies as a result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, his employer is in general liable to pay Compensation under this Ordinance even if the employee might have committed acts of faults or negligence when the accident occurred.

8 An accident to an employee resulting in injury or death is deemed to arise out of and in the course of his employment if it happens in the following circumstances: (a) while travelling as a passenger to or from his place of work by a means of transport operated or arranged by his employer and other than as part of a public transport service; (b) while travelling by a direct route between his residence and his place of work for the purpose of and in connection with his employment by driving or operating a means of transport arranged or provided by his employer; (c) when typhoon signal No. 8 or above or a red /black rainstorm warning is in force, while travelling from his place of residence to his place of work by a direct route within a period of four hours before the time of commencement of his working hours for that day, or from his place of work to his place of residence within a period of four hours after the time of cessation of his working hours for that day; or (d) while travelling, for the purpose of and in connection with his employment by any means of transport permitted by his employer, between Hong Kong and any place outside Hong Kong or between any other such places outside Hong Kong.

9 An employer is not liable to pay Compensation in the following circumstances: (a) the injury does not result in permanent incapacity nor incapacitate the employee from earning full wages at his normal work; (b) the injury is a deliberate self-injury; Chapter 2 Liability for Compensation for Work Injury and Occupational Disease - 5 - (c) the death or incapacity results from an injury (including a specified occupational disease) which the employee has falsely represented to his employer that he was free from; or (d) the injury is caused by an accident directly attributable to the employee s addiction to drugs or his having been at the time of accident under the influence of alcohol and does not result in death or serious and permanent incapacity.

10 Occupational Disease An employee suffering incapacity arising from an occupational disease is entitled to receive the same Compensation as that payable to an employee injured in an accident arising out of and in the course of employment, if the disease is one due to the nature of any occupation in which he was employed at any time within the prescribed period immediately preceding the incapacity caused. The occupational diseases covered by the Ordinance and the prescribed period are specified in the Second Schedule annexed to the Ordinance (Appendix 2). If the employee has been employed by more than one employer during the prescribed period in the same or in a similar occupation, all the employers may be responsible for paying Compensation , though not necessarily to the same extent.