LCQ15: Employees' compensation
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Question:
According to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) (ECO), employees who have sustained an injury or died as a result of an accident which occurred in the course of their employment or those who have suffered from an occupational disease specified in ECO owing to the nature of their work may receive compensation under a no-fault principle. On taking sick leave, receiving diagnoses and treatments as well as filing employees' compensation (EC) claims, etc. by employees injured at work, will the Government inform this Council, in respect of each year since 2012:
(1) of the number of cases in which the Labour Department (LD) instituted prosecutions against employers who had failed to take out EC insurance policies (commonly known as "labour insurance policies");
(2) of the respective numbers of cases in which LD issued warning letters and instituted prosecutions against employers who had failed to pay (i) periodical payments (i.e. sick leave payments) and (ii) medical expenses on time to employees injured at work and, among the prosecution cases, the respective numbers of those in which the employers were convicted;
(3) of the respective numbers of EC claims received by LD, with a breakdown by whether the employees were incapacitated for (i) not more than or (ii) more than three days; among those claims involving an incapacitation period exceeding three days, the respective numbers of claims which were (iii) settled and (iv) unsettled within 12 months after they had been lodged, as well as (v) the total amount of compensation and (vi) the total number of lost working days involved in the former and (vii) the relevant reasons for the latter; among the claims involving an incapacitation period exceeding three days, (viii) the number of cases in which the employees concerned received a work capability assessment conducted by the Employees' Compensation Assessment Board after resuming duty, and (ix) the average time lapse between their resumption of duty and the conduct of the assessment;
(4) of the respective numbers of employees who were granted sick leave due to work injury for a period of (i) three to six months, (ii) more than six months to one year, (iii) more than one year to two years, and (iv) more than two years, with a tabulated breakdown by trade;
(5) of the number of EC claims filed with the court by employees, with a breakdown by case nature (i.e. injury or fatality);
(6) of the respective numbers of legal aid applications (i) received and (ii) approved by the Legal Aid Department (LAD) in respect of EC claims; in respect of the approved cases, the amount of expenditure incurred so far, as well as the average and median time taken from submission of applications to granting of approval;
(7) of (i) the respective numbers of EC claims with legal aid granted which were heard by the court (with a breakdown by result (i.e. claims awarded, dismissed or settled)), and (ii) the number of cases in which legal aid was discharged by LAD in the course of action; the respective highest, lowest, median and average amounts of compensation payable in the cases in which (iii) the court ruled in favour of the claimants concerned and (iv) settlement agreements were reached by both parties to proceedings;
(8) of the respective numbers of cases in which employees incapacitated as a result of a work injury (i) applied for and (ii) were granted Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Normal Disability Allowance and Higher Disability Allowance, and the amount of expenditure involved in the approved cases for each type of allowances;
(9) of the attendances at the accident and emergency departments under the Hospital Authority (HA) by employees injured at work for diagnoses and treatments;
(10) of (i) the attendance at the specialist outpatient clinics (including orthopaedics, neurosurgery and surgery) under HA by employees injured at work for diagnoses and treatments, (ii) the attendance among them involving new cases, and (iii) the respective current average waiting time for the old and new cases concerned, broken down by specialty; and
(11) of the amount of expenditure incurred by the authorities on promoting the prevention of industrial accidents?
Reply:
President,
In consultation with the Food and Health Bureau and the Legal Aid Department (LAD), my reply to the Member's question is as follows:
(1) From 2012 to 2017, the yearly number of summonses heard in respect of failure to take out employees' compensation insurance under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (ECO) as processed by the Labour Department (LD) is provided below:
| Year | Number of summonses heard |
| 2012 | 797 |
| 2013 | 1 024 |
| 2014 | 936 |
| 2015 | 868 |
| 2016 | 604 |
| 2017 | 717 |
(2) From 2012 to 2017, the yearly numbers of summonses heard and convicted in respect of failure to pay periodical payments on time under ECO as processed by LD are provided below:
| Year | Number of summonses heard |
Number of summonses convicted |
| 2012 | 32 | 24 |
| 2013 | 28 | 25 |
| 2014 | 19 | 14 |
| 2015 | 26 | 26 |
| 2016 | 93 | 61 |
| 2017 | 41 | 32 |
LD does not keep the number of warning letters issued to employers for failure to pay periodical payments and medical expenses to employees under ECO. Besides, since failure to pay medical expenses is not a prosecutable offence under ECO, LD does not have the related prosecution and conviction figures.
(3) From 2012 to 2017, the yearly number of employees' compensation claims reported under ECO and received by LD is provided below:
| Duration of incapacitation | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
| Not more than three days | 16 266 | 16 096 | 15 531 | 14 994 | 15 134 | 14 645 |
| More than three days* | 40 497 | 39 072 | 38 386 | 36 923 | 36 420 | 36 463 |
| Total | 56 763 | 55 168 | 53 917 | 51 917 | 51 554 | 51 108 |
From 2012 to 2017, of the compensation claims involving incapacitation of employees for more than three days reported under ECO and received by LD in each year, the number of claims settled in the same respective year, the total amount of compensation involved and the total number of working days lost are provided below:
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Number of claims settled in the same respective year | 24 909 | 23 740 | 23 054 | 22 538 | 22 156 | 21 066 |
| Total amount of compensation involved ($million) |
214.3 | 226.4 | 233.0 | 270.5 | 272.5 | 250.8 |
| Total number of working days lost* | 394 090 | 396 705 | 390 353 | 408 292 | 407 679 | 375 027 |
From 2012 to 2017, of the compensation claims involving incapacitation of employees for more than three days reported under ECO and received by LD in each year, the number of claims which were not settled in the same respective year is provided below:
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Number of claims not settled in the same respective year | 15 588 | 15 332 | 15 332 | 14 385 | 14 264 | 15 397 |
The above claims were not settled in the same respective year owing to various reasons, such as awaiting expiry of employees' sick leave, assessment of permanent incapacity or court judgment.
If the employees sustain work injuries which result in incapacitation for more than three days and will likely result in permanent total or partial incapacity, LD will arrange the employees to attend an assessment conducted by the Employees' Compensation Assessment Board (ECAB) after they have recovered or their medical conditions have stabilised. The assessments are conducted by the relevant specialty departments (mainly the Orthopaedics and Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments) in 16 hospitals under the Hospital Authority (HA). Employees' waiting time will be affected by the different frequency of ECAB meetings convened by the specialty departments of different hospitals. From 2012 to 2017, the total number of assessments conducted by ECAB and the average waiting time for employees who were arranged to attend assessments after they had recovered or their medical conditions had stabilised in each year are provided below:
| Year | Number of assessments | Average waiting time (in terms of weeks)+ |
| 2012 | 22 229 | 11 |
| 2013 | 23 342 | 12 |
| 2014 | 23 164 | 11 |
| 2015 | 23 599 | 11 |
| 2016 | 22 995 | 10 |
| 2017 | 19 718 (as at end-November)* |
10 |
+ Involving the Orthopaedics and A&E Departments. Assessments by other specialty departments were arranged according to actual needs.
LD does not keep the number of cases and average waiting time for employees who were arranged to attend assessments after their resumption of duty.
(4) From 2012 to 2017, the number of compensation claims settled in each year involving incapacitation of employees for more than three days (including compensation claims reported in or before the respective settlement year) with a breakdown by the number of working days lost is provided below:
| Number of working days lost | Number of settled compensation claims | |||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Below 90 days | 31 011 | 29 144 | 28 107 | 27 824 | 26 686 | 25 251 |
| 90 to below 180 days | 2 753 | 2 706 | 2 783 | 2 902 | 2 787 | 2 741 |
| 180 to below 360 days | 1 957 | 2 006 | 2 196 | 2 334 | 2 366 | 2 296 |
| 360 to below 720 days | 1 573 | 1 381 | 1 765 | 1 795 | 1 956 | 1 801 |
| 720 days or above | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 37 299 | 35 243 | 34 853 | 34 858 | 33 796 | 32 091 |
If the work injury sick leave of an employee does not exceed three days and no permanent incapacity is involved, the employer should make direct payment of compensation to the employee in accordance with ECO. LD does not keep statistics on the number of working days lost for this type of cases. Moreover, LD does not keep statistics on compensation claims with breakdowns by the number of employees or occupation.
(5) From 2012 to 2017, of the reported compensation claims involving incapacitation of employees for more than three days, the number of claims where employees sought legal aid or adjudication by the Court with a breakdown by fatal or injury cases is provided below:
| Year | Number of claims where employees sought legal aid or adjudication by the Court (as at the end of the reporting year of the claims) | ||
| Injury cases | Fatal cases | Total | |
| 2012 | 629 | 8 | 637 |
| 2013 | 587 | 7 | 594 |
| 2014 | 655 | 11 | 666 |
| 2015 | 664 | 5 | 669 |
| 2016 | 701 | 9 | 710 |
| 2017 | 732 | 20 | 752 |
The employer should make direct payment of compensation to the employee in accordance with ECO if the work injury sick leave of the employee does not exceed three days and no permanent incapacity is involved. LD does not keep statistics on the number of claims where employees sought adjudication by the Court for this type of cases.
(6) From 2012 to 2017, the numbers of legal aid applications, certificates granted and the median and average time taken to complete the processing of applications by LAD in respect of employees' compensation claims in each year are provided below:
| Employees' compensation claims | |||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| Number of legal aid applications received | 2 276 | 2 165 | 2 267 | 2 135 | 2 076 | 2 157 | |
| Number of legal aid certificates granted* | 1 483 | 1 241 | 1 411 | 1 300 | 1 325 | 1 313 | |
| Processing time (calendar days) | Median | 63 | 62 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 64 |
| Average | 58.62 | 60.48 | 61.79 | 63.97 | 65.50 | 64.90 | |
From 2012-13 to 2016-17 financial years, the legal aid costs spent on cases in respect of employees' compensation claims are provided below:
| Employees' compensation claims | |||||
| Financial year | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
| Legal aid costs ($thousand) |
47,048.3 | 50,491.5 | 51,188.7 | 54,657.2 | 61,413.6 |
(7) From 2012 to 2017, the success rates of legal aid cases in respect of employees' compensation claims which were closed in each year are provided below:
| Employees' compensation claims | ||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| In favour |
94% | 95% | 96% | 97% | 96% | 96% |
| Not in favour |
1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Discharged/ revoked prior to proceedings | 1% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 1% |
| Discharged at aided person's request during proceedings | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Discharged/ revoked during proceedings | 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Total |
100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
From 2012 to 2017, the highest, lowest, median and average amounts of damages received in legal aid cases in respect of employees' compensation claims that were closed in each year are provided below:
| Amounts of compensation awarded in employees' compensation claims | ||||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Highest ($thousand) |
12,200.00 | 1,913.46 | 2,553.57 | 2,979.80 | 3,756.00 | 3,360.62 |
| Lowest ($thousand) |
1.7 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 |
| Median ($thousand) |
100.00 | 102.11 | 130.00 | 137.26 | 150.00 | 150.00 |
| Average ($thousand) |
177.87 | 174.59 | 211.18 | 203.76 | 231.39 | 236.42 |
(8) The Social Welfare Department does not keep the statistics and the expenditure for employees with work-related injuries under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme and Disability Allowance.
(9) and (10) HA does not have complete statistics on the treatment for work-related injuries under ECO, including the number of attendance and average waiting time of A&E Departments and specialist outpatient clinics or hospitals in HA. The number of attendances of A&E Departments in HA arising from industrial trauma and the number of subsequent attendances for specialist outpatient (clinical) services among the aforementioned patients from 2012-13 to 2016-17 financial years are set out in the table below:
| Financial year |
Number of A&E attendances arising from industrial trauma (A) |
Among those patients as described in (A) who subsequently made a booking for specialist outpatient (clinical) services within 28 days after their A&E attendances or inpatient discharges |
| 2012-13 | 70 758 | 48 878 |
| 2013-14 | 69 268 | 48 142 |
| 2014-15 | 67 812 | 47 485 |
| 2015-16 | 66 755 | 48 134 |
| 2016-17 | 65 980 | 48 541 |
(11) LD adopts a multi-pronged strategy to enhance occupational safety and health (OSH) through inspection and enforcement, education and training as well as publicity and promotion. In respect of publicity, education and promotion, LD organises promotional campaigns to enhance OSH awareness of employers and employees in various industries through training courses, seminars, roving exhibitions, out-reaching promotional visits, television and radio Announcements in the Public Interest, OSH messages disseminated through newspapers and LD's webpages, and compilation and updating of safety guidelines. A number of these activities are organised in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Council, trade associations and workers' unions. The above work is an integral part of LD's ongoing work, and the expenditure cannot be separately identified.
Ends/Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Issued at HKT 15:30
Issued at HKT 15:30
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