Hong Kong Ordinances

EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE - SECT 31B

General provisions as to right to severance payment

(1) Where an employee who has been employed under a continuous  contract for a
period of not less than 24 months ending with the relevant  date- (Amended 76
of 1985 s. 5)

   (a)  is dismissed by his employer by reason of redundancy; or

   (b)  is laid off within the meaning of section 31E, the employer shall,
        subject to this Part and Part VC, be liable to pay to the employee a
        severance payment calculated in accordance with section  31G .
        (Amended 52 of 1988 s. 5)

(2) For the purposes of this Part an employee who is dismissed shall be taken
to be dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is attributable
wholly or mainly to the fact that-

   (a)  his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the
        business-

        (i)    for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him; or

        (ii)   in the place where the employee was so employed; or

   (b)  the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a
        particular kind, or for employees to carry out work of a particular
        kind in the place where the employee was so employed, have ceased or
        diminished or are expected to cease or diminish. (Replaced 62 of 1992
        s. 4)

(3) For the purposes of the application of this Part to an employee who is
employed as a domestic servant in, or in connection with, a private household,
this Part (except section 31J) shall apply as if the household were a business
and the maintenance of the household were the carrying on of that business by
the employer. [cf. 1965 c. 62 ss. 1 & 19(1) U.K.]