Cap 527 s 8 Discrimination against applicants and employees (Family Status Discrimination Ordinance)

Contents of Section

Chapter:	527	Title:	Family Status Discrimination Ordinance	Gazette Number:	L.N. 552 of 1997; 40 of 2000
Section:	8	Heading:	Discrimination against applicants and employees	Version Date:	21/11/1997

Remarks:

Adaptation amendments retroactively made - see 66 of 1999 s. 3

Discrimination by employers

(1) It is unlawful for a person ("the employer"), in relation to employment by him at an establishment in Hong Kong, to discriminate against a person who has family status-

(a) in the arrangements the employer makes for the purpose of determining who should be offered that employment;

(b) in the terms on which the employer offers that other person employment; or

(2) It is unlawful for the employer, in the case of a person who has family status employed by him at an establishment in Hong Kong, to discriminate against that person-

(a) in the way he affords that person access to opportunities for promotion, transfer or training, or to any other benefits, facilities or services, or by refusing or deliberately omitting to afford him access to them;

(b) in the terms of employment he affords that person; or

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to employment where the number of persons employed by the employer, added to the number employed by any associated employers of his, does not exceed 5 (disregarding any persons employed for the purposes of a private home).
(4) Nothing in subsection (1) or (2) renders it unlawful for an employer to restrict the employment of a person if-

(a) that person is an immediate family member of an employee of the employer; or

(b) that person is an immediate family member of an employee of another employer,

and the first-mentioned employer can demonstrate, after making reasonable enquiries, that there is a significant likelihood of collusion between that person and the employee which would result in damage to the business of the first-mentioned employer.
(5) Subsection (2) shall not apply to benefits, facilities or services of any description if the employer is concerned with the provision (for payment or not) of benefits, facilities or services of that description to the public comprising the person concerned, unless-

(a) that provision differs in a material respect from the provision of the benefits, facilities or services by the employer to his employees; or

(b) the benefits, facilities or services relate to training.

(6) Subsection (3) shall expire on the 3rd anniversary of the day on which this Ordinance is enacted.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (3), 2 employers are to be treated as associated if one is a company of which the other (directly or indirectly) has control or if both are companies of which a third person (directly or indirectly) has control.
(8) The Chief Executive in Council may, by notice in the Gazette- (Amended 66 of 1999 s. 3)

(a) amend subsection (3) by substituting another number for the last number appearing in that subsection;

(b) amend subsection (6) by substituting another anniversary for the anniversary appearing in that subsection.

(9) Subsection (1)(b) or (2)(b) shall not apply to any term of employment under which an employer affords, or omits to afford, any immediate family member of the person concerned direct or indirect access to benefits, facilities or services. (Added 40 of 2000 s. 2)
(10) Subsection (2)(a) or (c) shall not apply to any arrangement under which an employer affords, or omits to afford, any immediate family member of the person concerned direct or indirect access to benefits, facilities or services. (Added 40 of 2000 s. 2)