The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2017 (the "Bill") was
gazetted on 5 May 2017.
The Bill aims to give the court or Labour Tribunal power to
order reinstatement or re-engagement without the consent of the
employer if requested by an employee who has been unreasonably and
unlawfully dismissed and the court or Labour Tribunal considers
such order to be appropriate and practicable. A similar bill was
introduced in 2016 but subsequently lapsed at the end of the last
term of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo). See our In
Brief dated
6 July 2016.
The main difference between the Bill and the 2016 bill is that
the Bill proposes that if an employer refuses to comply with an
order to reinstate or re-engage the dismissed employee, it will
need to pay to the employee a further sum (in addition to other
monetary remedies awarded to the employee) of three times the
employee's average monthly wages up to a maximum of HK$72,500
(the "Sum"). The maximum amount of the
