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Following is the question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (January 11):
Question:
Regarding paid leave for giving birth to and looking after children, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that since April 2003, pregnant employees in the United Kingdom have been entitled to 26 weeks' paid maternity leave, regardless of the length of their employment by the employers concerned, whereas a pregnant employee in Hong Kong is only entitled to 10 weeks of paid maternity leave provided she has been employed under a continuous contract for a period of not less than 40 weeks immediately before the date of commencement of her maternity leave, whether the authorities have assessed if Hong Kong lags behind other developed economic entities in labour legislation in terms of maternity leave; if they have, of the assessment results; and whether the period of paid maternity leave will be extended; if they have not assessed, the reasons for that; and
(b) as the Chief Executive has, in his Policy Address last October, pointed out that cherishing the family was a core value of Hong Kong and stated that the Government would actively create a family-friendly working environment, whether the authorities will, by drawing reference from the practices of various developed countries, introduce legislation to grant employees paid paternity leave and parental leave; if they will not, the justifications for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Under the existing provisions of the Employment Ordinance, a pregnant employee is entitled to 10 weeks' maternity leave if she has been employed under a continuous contract immediately before the commencement of her maternity leave. If the employee encounters health problems before or after delivery, the employer must allow her to take an additional maximum period of four weeks' leave. The employee is also entitled to maternity leave pay equivalent to four-fifths of her normal wages if she meets the qualifying period of employment.
At present, the duration of maternity leave in most Asian countries ranges from 60 days to 14 weeks. While some places may provide longer period of maternity leave than Hong Kong, their maternity leave pay is lower (for example, the pay amounts to only 60 percent of normal wages) or the responsibility for paying maternity benefits is not solely borne by employers. The situation is similar for advanced economies. In the United States, for example, though pregnant employees enjoy 12 weeks' maternity leave, the leave is "without pay". The maternity protection system of the United Kingdom is rather unique. Although pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks' paid maternity leave, their employers may deduct over 90% of such payment from their next payments to the Inland Revenue, depending on their National Insurance liabilities. Thus, it can be seen that different places operate different systems and have different provisions for maternity leave. It would be inappropriate to make direct comparison between Hong Kong's maternity leave with that in other places. We will, however, continue to review our maternity provisions from time to time to see whether any revisions are required.
(b) There is currently no international labour standard on paternity leave. For those economies which have introduced paid or no-pay paternity leave, the duration generally ranges from two to 15 days. As for parental leave, it usually refers to a longer period of leave immediately following the maternity leave or paternity leave to facilitate either parent to take care of the new born. However, as relatively few economies provide paternity or parental leave, there is rather limited experience for reference. Moreover, as most firms in Hong Kong are small and medium sized enterprises, they are relatively less flexible in making staff deployment. For this reason, introducing legislation to provide for paternity or parental leave would increase their running costs and create operational difficulties. Nevertheless, we will monitor developments and study the proposal at an appropriate time.
Ends/Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:00
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