Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
Enhancement measures implemented to safeguard employment priority for local workers under Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme
(i) To ensure that employers will not displace local employees with imported workers, the LD launched an online complaint form on the ESLS dedicated webpage (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/plan/iwESLS.htm
(ii) For applications of ESLS which thereafter pass the initial screening and will commence the four-week local recruitment process, the LD will display the names of applicant companies when publishing the job vacancies on the Interactive Employment Service website to encourage job seekers to apply for the jobs.
(iii) After an employer has submitted an ESLS application, other application(s) submitted by the same employer within the following six months will generally not be processed (except under exceptional circumstances, such as applications for renewal of imported workers’ employment contracts).
(iv) The LD will launch a special inspection campaign to check whether establishments employing imported workers have continuously met the manning ratio requirement of full-time local employees to imported workers of 2:1. In parallel, the LD will, adopting a risk-based approach, require employers to report information on full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratios. The LD will investigate any suspected violations. If substantiated, the LD will impose administrative sanctions on the employers.
A Government spokesman reiterated that the priority of the Government’s manpower policy all along is to nurture the local workforce. On the premise of ensuring employment priority for local workers, the Government suitably allows employers to apply for importation of workers.
The ESLS also requires employers not to displace local workers with imported workers. In the event of redundancy, imported workers should be retrenched first. If there is sufficient evidence to substantiate any violation of the requirement, the LD will impose administrative sanctions on the employers, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of labour previously granted and refusal to process other applications submitted by the employers in the following two years.
The LD will continue to closely monitor the local labour market, and from time to time review the operation and implementation arrangements of the ESLS, with a view to safeguarding employment priority for local workers.
Issued at HKT 14:00
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