### Employment Ordinance 《僱傭條例》

31D. Dismissal by employer
(1) For the purposes of and subject to this Part, an employee shall be taken to be dismissed by his employer if, but only if—
(a) the contract under which he is employed is terminated by the employer with or without notice or payment in lieu thereof other than in accordance with section 9;
(b) where under that contract he is employed for a fixed term, that term expires without being renewed under the same contract; or
(c) the employee terminates that contract with or without notice or payment in lieu, in circumstances such that he is entitled to terminate it without notice or payment in lieu in accordance with section 10 by reason of the employer’s conduct. (Replaced 62 of 1992 s. 5)
(2) An employee shall not be taken for the purposes of this Part to be dismissed by his employer if—
(a) his contract of employment is renewed, or he is re-engaged by the same employer under a new contract of employment; and
(b) the renewal or re-engagement takes effect immediately on the ending of his employment under the previous contract.
(3) For the purposes of the application of subsection (2) to a contract under which the employment ends on a rest day or holiday, the renewal or re-engagement shall be treated as taking effect immediately on the ending of the employment under the previous contract if it takes effect on or before the next day after that rest day or holiday.
[cf. 1965 c. 62 s. 3 U.K.]

### Employment Ordinance 《僱傭條例》

31E. Lay-off
(1) Where an employee is employed under a contract on such terms and conditions that his remuneration thereunder depends on his being provided by the employer with work of the kind he is employed to do, he shall for the purposes of section 31B(1) be taken to be laid off where the total number of days on each of which such work is not provided for him by the employer exceeds—
(a) half of the total number of normal working days in any period of 4 consecutive weeks; or
(b) one-third of the total number of normal working days in any period of 26 consecutive weeks,
and he is not paid a sum equivalent to the wages which he would have earned if work had been provided on the days on which no work was provided. (Amended 41 of 1990 s. 8)
(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1), any period during which an employee is not provided with work because of a lock-out by his employer, or as a result of a rest day, a statutory holiday or a day of annual leave, shall not be taken into account as normal working days in determining whether an employee has been laid off. (Added 41 of 1990 s. 8. Amended 61 of 1993 s. 4)
(2) The continuity of a contract of employment of an employee shall not be treated as broken by any lay-off as a result of which no severance payment has been made.
(3) For the purposes of this Part the relevant date (有關日期) in respect of the right of an employee to a severance payment arising by reason of lay-off means any day on which the period of 4 consecutive weeks or 26 consecutive weeks, as the case may be, referred to in subsection (1) has expired. (Amended 41 of 1990 s. 8)
[cf. 1965 c. 62 s. 5(1) U.K.]

### Employment Ordinance 《僱傭條例》

31F. Excluded classes of employees
Section 31B shall not apply—
(a) where the employer is the husband or wife of the employee;
(b) to any outworker;
(c) (Repealed 76 of 1985 s. 6)(d) to any person, employed by a government other than the Hong Kong Government, who is a subject or citizen of the state under whose government he is employed; or
(e) without prejudice to paragraph (a), to any person in respect of employment as a domestic servant in, or in connection with, a private household, where the employer is the father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister of the employee.
[cf. 1965 c. 62 s. 16 U.K.]

31G. Amount of severance payment
(1) Subject to this Part, the amount of a severance payment to which an employee is entitled in any case shall be calculated by allowing—
(a) in the case of a monthly rated employee, two-thirds of his last full month’s wages, or two-thirds of $22,500, whichever is less; and
(b) in any other case, 18 days’ wages based on any 18 days chosen by the employee and occurring during his last 30 normal working days, or two-thirds of $22,500, whichever is less, (Amended L.N. 264 of 1995)
for every year (and pro rata as respects an incomplete year) of employment under a continuous contract by his employer subject in all cases to a maximum payment not exceeding, where the relevant date occurs in a period specified in column 1 of Table A in the Seventh Schedule, the amount specified in column 2 of that table opposite to the period. (Amended 5 of 1995 s. 6)
(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where—
(a) the relevant date occurs in a period specified in column 1 of Table B in the Seventh Schedule; and
(b) the employee has been employed under a continuous contract by his employer for a period (employment period

### Employment Ordinance 《僱傭條例》

31IA. Gratuity or benefit to be reduced by amount of severance payment in certain cases
(1) If—
(a) because of the operation of the employee’s contract of employment, an employee has become entitled to payment of a gratuity based on length of service, or to payment of a relevant occupational retirement scheme benefit; or 
(b) a relevant mandatory provident fund scheme benefit is being held in a mandatory provident fund scheme in respect of the employee,
and the employee has been paid a severance payment under this Part, the gratuity or benefit is, to the extent that it is attributable to the same years of service as those for which the severance payment is payable, to be reduced by the whole amount of the severance payment.
(2) Subsection (1) has effect even though the years of service for which the severance payment was made exceed those to which the gratuity or benefit is attributable.
(3) Section 70A of the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 426) and section 12A of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485) have effect in relation to this section.
(Replaced 4 of 1998 s. 5)

31J. Change of ownership of business
(1) This section shall have effect where—
(a) a change occurs (whether by virtue of a sale or other disposition or by operation of law) in the ownership of a business for the purposes of which a person is employed, or of a part of such a business; and
(b) in connection with that change the person by whom the employee is employed immediately before the change occurs (in this section referred to as the previous owner

31K. Associated companies
(1) Where the employer is a company, any reference in this Part to re-engagement by the employer shall be construed as a reference to re-engagement by that company or by any associated company, and any reference in this Part to an offer made by the employer shall be construed as including a reference to an offer made by an associated company.
(2) Subsection (1) shall not affect the operation of section 31J in a case where the previous owner and the new owner (as defined by that section) are associated companies; and where that section applies, subsection (1) shall not apply.
(3) Where an employee is dismissed by his employer, and the employer is a company (in this subsection referred to as the employing company