For discussion FCR(95-96)111
on 19 January 1996
ITEM FOR FINANCE COMMITTEE
Subhead 001 Salaries
HEAD 120 - PENSIONS
Subhead 016 Gratuities for officers on contract
Members are invited to approve the continued payment of personal salaries to 14 transferees appointed to serve at a lower rank after transferring from overseas agreement terms to locally-based conditions of service during the extended part of their 2½-year agreements.
The foreshortening of some overseas officers contract agreements to 30 June 1997 was deemed unlawful in a recent court judgement on the Governments localisation policy.
2. The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS) proposes that these foreshortened agreements be extended beyond 30 June 1997 to the normal 2½ years duration, with the continued payment of personal salaries.
3. Under modified interim arrangements applicable to certain agreements expiring on or before 1 September 1995 in pursuit of the Governments localisation policy, an overseas officer who transferred to locally-based conditions and who occupied a promotion rank was required to serve at one rank below his original rank if there was a suitable local officer to replace him. He received a personal salary at his original pay point while serving at the lower rank. A total of 47 officers were appointed to a lower rank under these modified arrangements while retaining their personal salaries.
4. Although agreements are normally offered for 2½ years, all agreements granted to transferees appointed to a lower rank under the modified arrangements were set to expire on or before 30 June 1997. As a result, some of the agreements were shorter than normal. This was one of the decisions challenged by the Association of Expatriate Civil Servants of Hong Kong. On 31 October 1995, the court ruled that it constituted a prima facie infringement of Article 21(c) of the Bill of Rights on the grounds that if transferees were denied agreements of a length similar to that of local officers, they were thereby denied access to the public service on general terms of equality.
5. To address this issue, SCS proposes that transferees be given the option to have their agreements extended to 2½ years, i.e. the normal length. As extensions should be granted on the same terms and conditions of service as the original agreements, SCS further proposes that transferees serving at a lower rank whose agreements are extended should continue to be paid personal salaries during the extension, but not beyond.
6. Of the 47 transferees appointed to a lower rank while retaining personal salaries, the agreements of 29 of them expire before 30 June 1997 and are a full 2½ years in length. The agreements of the remaining 18 transferees have been capped to expire on 30 June 1997. Of these 18 transferees, four have secured promotion to their original rank through the opening up of positions at that rank. Therefore only 14 transferees will be given the option to have their agreements extended beyond 30 June 1997 with the payment of personal salaries.
7. If all 14 transferees opt to extend their agreements to their normal length, SCS estimates that the additional expenditure on salaries and gratuities arising from the proposal will be $1,325,000 at 1995-96 price level, calculated as follows -
|
$000
|
|---|
|
Salaries
|
1,060
|
|
Gratuities
|
265
|
|
Total
|
1,325 |
The cashflow is as follows -
|
$000
|
|---|
|
1997-98
|
1,187
|
|
1998-99
|
138 |
8. Subject to Members approval, we shall include sufficient provision in future Estimates for the purpose.
9. The continued payment of personal salaries to the officers concerned will also result in additional expenditure on passage and housing benefits, since some transferees will be entitled, by virtue of their personal salaries, to benefits or higher rates of allowances which are not normally available to officers serving in the transferees new ranks. We cannot accurately assess the additional cost arising therefrom but this is unlikely to be significant.
10. On 14 October 1994, Finance Committee approved the award of personal salaries to officers on overseas agreement terms who were required to serve at one rank below their original rank after transferring to locally-based conditions of service. On that occasion, Members were informed that the agreements of these transferees would expire on or before 30 June 1997 and the award of personal salaries would cease upon expiry of the agreements. As SCS now proposes to extend, where necessary, these agreements beyond 30 June 1997 with the continued payment of personal salaries during the extended part of the agreement, we need further approval from the Finance Committee.
Civil Service Branch
January 1996
Last Updated on 2 December 1998
