Hong Kong, April 09: Hong Kong is way behind developed countries when it comes to preventing discrimination against disabled people in the workplace.So says Equal Opportunities Commission chairman Lam Woon-kwong, who took the helm two months ago.

"While Hong Kong's per capita GDP is about US$30,000 (HK$234,000), overall discrimination is worse than many other well- developed countries, especially on discrimination against the disabled," said Lam.

More than half the complaints the commission handled in the past two years involved disabled people.

Lam - who was forced to quit as an aide to former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa over an extramarital affair - was speaking at the launch of three months of public consultation on a revised code of practice on dealing with disabled people in the workplace.

The current code on employment under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance has been in place since 1997.

The revised code adds in a chapter outlining ideal ways of managing disability- related sick leave.

"We feel that it would be very helpful [for] both employers and employees to have a specific chapter on what should be meant by reasonable period of sickness leave and how to handle, for example, the sensitive information contained in the medical reports of the employees concerned," Lam said.

The proposed new code also includes a raft of circumstances in which discrimination may occur and the relevant case laws, which are hardly mentioned in the current code.

It also has more detailed recruitment guidelines to help avoid discrimination during the selection process.

It also gives more explanation on the liabilities of employers and workers if they infringe the ordinance.

Willy Law Wai-cheung, vice chairman of the Direction Association for the Handicapped, welcomed the commission's plan to update the code.

But he said despite the guidelines, many employers avoid hiring the disabled: "Many well-trained and educated people are turned down. So some are getting less confident in their ability."


Source: http://www.thestandard.com.hk