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Chapter: | 282
 | Title: | EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION ORDINANCE | Gazette Number: | L.N. 140 of 2008 |
| Section: | 10 | Heading: | Compensation in case of temporary incapacity | Version Date: | 01/09/2008 |
(1) Where temporary incapacity whether total or partial results from the injury, the compensation shall be the periodical payments hereinafter mentioned, or a lump sum calculated accordingly, having regard to the probable duration, and probable changes in the degree, of the incapacity. Such periodical payments shall be, or shall be at the rate proportionate to, a monthly payment of four-fifths of the difference between the monthly earnings which the employee was earning at the time of the accident and the monthly earnings which he is earning, or is capable of earning, in some suitable employment or business during the period of the temporary incapacity after the accident. (Amended 55 of 1969 s. 10; 76 of 1982 s. 7; 67 of 1996 s. 3)
(2) For the purposes of this section a period of absence from duty certified to be necessary by a registered medical practitioner, a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, a registered dentist, an Ordinary Assessment Board or a Special Assessment Board shall be deemed to be a period of total temporary incapacity irrespective of the outcome of the injury. (Added 55 of 1969 s. 10. Amended 31 of 1985 s. 2; 16 of 2006 s. 13)
(3) Periodical payments under this section shall be payable on the same days as wages would have been payable to the employee if he had continued to be employed under the contract of service or apprenticeship under which he was employed at the time of the accident:
Provided that-
- (a) by agreement or by order of the Court, the periodical payments may be made at shorter intervals; and
(b) the interval between periodical payments shall not exceed 1 month. (Added 55 of 1969 s. 10)
(5) An employee who has received periodical payments under this section for a period of 24 months from the date of the commencement of the temporary incapacity or for such further period being not more than 12 months as the Court may allow in any particular case shall no longer be entitled to periodical payments under this section but shall be deemed to have suffered permanent incapacity and the provisions of section 7 or 9, as the case may be, shall apply to the employee. (Added 55 of 1969 s. 10. Amended 1 of 1995 s. 5)
(6) In fixing the amount of the periodical payment, the Court shall have regard to any payment, allowance or benefit which the employee may receive from the employer during the incapacity.
(7) On the ceasing of the incapacity before the date on which any periodical payment falls due, there shall be payable in respect of that period a sum proportionate to the duration of the incapacity in that period.
(8) An employee in receipt of periodical payments under this section who intends to leave Hong Kong for the purpose of residing outside Hong Kong may apply to the Court for an order for the redemption of such periodical payments and the payment to him, subject to subsection (9), of a lump sum amount to be determined by the Court. (Replaced 1 of 1995 s. 5)
(9) The amount of a lump sum payable to an employee under subsection (8) together with the periodical payments already made to the employee under subsection (1) shall not exceed the lump sum which would be payable in respect of the same degree of incapacity under the provisions of section 7 or 9, as the case may be, if the incapacity were permanent. (Replaced 1 of 1995 s. 5)
(10) Without prejudice to any other provision of this Ordinance, an employer who without reasonable excuse fails to pay to the employee or to the Court any compensation or any proportionate part thereof thereof under this section within a period of 7 days after the date on which such compensation falls due (whether under subsection (3) or by agreement or by order of the Court), commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 6. (Added 76 of 1982 s. 7. Amended 63 of 1992 s. 4; 64 of 1992 s. 2; 36 of 1996 s. 7)
(11) If the period of temporary incapacity does not exceed 3 days and the employer fails to pay to the employee or to the Court the compensation or any proportionate part thereof that he is liable to pay under this section within the period referred to in subsection (10), the compensation or proportionate part thereof may be recovered by the employee from the employer-
- (a) as a civil debt in the Small Claims Tribunal established under the Small Claims Tribunal Ordinance (Cap 338); or
(b) where the amount claimed exceeds the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Tribunal, as a civil debt in the District Court. (Added 67 of 1996 s. 3)