As the impacts of the pandemic continue, an event was created to help out Hong Kong employers on what exactly they should know with regards to pandemic restrictions & employment law. Attendees were able to join this insightful webinar organized by our BLCC Corporate Member Fidinam early March.
We were pleased to welcome Cynthia Chung (Partner, Deacons) in conversation with our moderator, Anne De Roulhac (Head of French Desk, Fidinam (Hong Kong) Limited) for a short & powerful talk covering several commonly asked questions.
Quite a few interesting topics were discussed, and many burning questions were answered. Such as whether staff members shall work from home these days or not, what the exact procedure is today when staff members test positive and what measures are to be taken if this is the case. Also Ms. Chung talked about what the exact definition of a “close contact” is today and if it is possible to adopt restraining measures towards non-vaccinated staff.
In addition, Ms. Chung also answered the webinar attendees’ questions about what the best way is to face a situation where staff members are in obligatory quarantine. She also touched upon relevant topics like termination & resignation during the pandemic times and what ‘Duty of Care’ exactly means in practice.
This event gave the attendees the opportunity to get a quick yet very informative update with regards to the newest Hong Kong pandemic regulations from the Labour Law Perspective. In these fluid times, measures & regulations change often so do make sure to keep yourself updated on the HKgov’s current regulations website and by reading press releases.
Here is a short summary of the main recommendations that were given during this event:
- Avoid eating together as staff members;
- Work from home as much as possible;
- In business context, a close contact is identified as someone who has shared a meal together with a confirmed positive case or when one has shared the same (unventilated) space together for 15 minutes or more, like in a business meeting;
- If someone of your staff tests positive, (or has had a close contact) it is advisable to clean his or her direct work space such as the desk; a full office disinfection is not needed;
- Trust in & communication with your staff remains very important
A recording of the event will be shared as soon as it becomes available.