Employment Ordinance

(1)
An employee may be granted remedies against his employer under this
Part—
(a)
where he has been employed under a continuous contract for a period of not less than 24 months ending with the relevant date and he is dismissed by the employer because the employer intends to extinguish or reduce any right, benefit or protection conferred or to be conferred upon the employee by this Ordinance;
(b)
where he is employed under a continuous contract and the employer, without his consent and, in the absence of an express term in his contract of employment which so permits, varies the terms of his contract of employment because the employer intends to extinguish or reduce any right, benefit or protection conferred or to be conferred upon the employee by this Ordinance; or
(c)
where he is dismissed by the employer other than for a valid reason within the meaning of
section 32K
and in contravention
of—
(i)
section 15(1)
,
21B(2
)(
b)
,
33(4B)
or
72B(1)
;
(ii)
section 6
of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (
Cap. 59
); or
(iii)
section 48
of the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (
Cap. 282
),
whether or not the employer has been convicted of an offence in respect of the dismissal.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection
(1
)(
a)
, an employee who has been dismissed by the employer shall, unless a valid reason is shown for that dismissal within the meaning of
section 32K
, be taken to have been so dismissed because the employer intends to extinguish or reduce any right, benefit or protection conferred or to be conferred upon the employee by this Ordinance.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection
(1
)(
b)
, the variation of the terms of the contract of employment by the employer as referred to in that subsection shall, unless a valid reason is shown for that variation within the meaning of
section 32K
, be taken to be a variation of the terms of the contract of employment by the employer by reason that the employer intends to extinguish or reduce any right, benefit or protection conferred or to be conferred upon the employee by this Ordinance.
(4)
For the purposes of subsection
(1
)(
c)
—
(a)
it shall not be necessary for an employee to show in relation
to—
(i)
subsection
(1
)(
c
)(
i)
, that his contract of employment was terminated by reason of his exercising any of the rights vested in an employee by or by virtue of
section 21B(1)
or by reason of the fact of his doing any of the things mentioned in
section 72B(1)
;
(ii)
subsection
(1
)(
c
)(
ii)
, that his contract of employment was terminated by reason of the fact of his doing any of the things mentioned in
section 6
of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (
Cap. 59
); and
(b)
an employee who has been dismissed by the employer shall be taken to have been dismissed without a valid reason unless a valid reason is shown for that dismissal within the meaning of
section 32K
.
(5)
For the purposes of subsection
(1
)(
c)
, an employee shall be entitled to remedies under this Part if and only
if—
(a)
in relation to a dismissal in contravention of
section 21B(2
)(
b)
, the employee has exercised any of the rights mentioned in
section 21B(1)
within a period of 12 months immediately preceding such dismissal by the employer;
(b)
in relation to a dismissal in contravention of
section 72B(1)
, the employee has done any of the things mentioned in that section within a period of 12 months immediately preceding such dismissal by the employer;
(c)
in relation to a dismissal in contravention of
section 6
of the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (
Cap. 59
), the employee has done any of the things mentioned in that section within a period of 12 months immediately preceding such dismissal by the employer.