Employment Ordinance

(1)
Where an employee dies and he had been at the time of his death employed under a continuous contract for not less than 5 years of service on the date of his death, the employer shall, subject to this Part and Part VC, pay a long service payment calculated in accordance with
section 31V(1)
to—
(Amended
105 of 1991 s. 3
;
74 of 1997 s. 11
)
(a)
the spouse of the employee, if the employee leaves a spouse; or
(b)
the issue of the employee, if the employee leaves any issue but no spouse; or
(c)
a parent of the employee, if the employee leaves neither a spouse nor issue; or
(d)
the personal representative of the employee, if the employee does not leave any spouse, issue or parent.
(1A)
(Repealed
74 of 1997 s. 11
)
(2)
A person referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (1) shall not be entitled to such payment
unless—
(a)
that person serves an application in the form specified by the Commissioner under
section 49
on the relevant employer within the period of 30 days beginning on the day next following the date of death of the employee or within such extended period as the Commissioner may allow; and
(b)
the applicant’s relationship (being a relationship mentioned in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (1)) to the deceased employee is supported by documentary evidence.
(3)
The Commissioner may extend the time for serving an application under subsection (2) although the application for extension is not made until after the expiration of the period of 30 days after the date of death of an employee.
(4)
Where a
person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (1) is a minor, the application under subsection (2) shall be made by the guardian of that person.
(5)
Where a person is entitled to a long service payment under this section, the employer shall pay such person the long service payment to which he is
entitled—
(a)
where the person so entitled is a spouse, not later than 7 days after the receipt of the application; or
(b)
where the person so entitled is not a spouse, not earlier than the day
                    (hereinafter in this paragraph called
the
                            said
                    day
)
                    next following the date of expiration of the period which, as regards the
                    particular case, was the period during which an application under subsection
(2
)(
a)
could be served but not later than 7 days after the said
                    day.
(6)
An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to pay a long service payment on or before the latest date for payment as required by subsection (5) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine at level 5.
(Amended
103 of 1995 s. 10
)
(7)
Where 2 or more persons are entitled to a long service payment under this section, the long service payment shall be divided equally between such persons.
(8)
A long service payment is payable in accordance with this Part by an employer on the death of an employee from whatever cause and is payable in addition to any compensation payable by the employer under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (
Cap. 282
).