In today's complex business environment, human resource management often faces a myriad of controversial issues that can lead to legal complications. To address operational problems effectively while safeguarding the interests of employers, human resource managers must handle these issues both efficiently and legally.
This training will focus on examining corresponding human resource strategies by referencing various typical court cases from the past. The speaker will explain and analyze a total of 32 human resource operational issues that are prone to legal entanglements. While it is impossible to exhaustively document all HR operational issues prone to legal pitfalls, the seminar will cover the following key areas:
A. Onboarding Process and Management
1. Over the past three years, an average of approximately 150-200 employers per year have faced criminal prosecution for violating Sections 17I and 17J of the Immigration Ordinance. Many of these prosecutions stemmed from errors in human resources operations. What are the common operational mistakes that lead to these prosecutions?
2. In recent High Court cases, new employers have been sued by the previous employers of their new hires. The cases involved allegations of subtly encouraging new employees to invite their former subordinates to join the new company and using stolen confidential company information. What lessons can new employers' human resources departments learn from?
3. During the interview process, what are the legally prohibited questions that should be avoided? How can one legally ask sensitive questions?
4. What are the typical clauses violated in employment contracts, and how should they be effectively drafted?
5. When there is a two-week gap between two contract periods, under what legal principles does the court consider this as continuous employment, resulting in the employer facing prosecution for not providing statutory rights to the relevant employees?
B. Compensation Management
6. Employers annually provide discretionary bonuses based on work performance, often including a clause requiring that employees must still be working at the company or have not submitted a resignation letter by the bonus payment date. Why is such a clause considered illegal in this case?
7. Employers often provide substantial on-the-job training for newly hired employees, which involves considerable resources. If an employee does not complete a specified period, such as one or two years, they must compensate the employer for damages upon leaving. How do courts review such deductions considered illegal?
8. Under the "7-13" salary calculation, what court rulings in recent years have addressed employers' misunderstandings of "total wages" and deemed such misunderstandings as illegal?
9. Illegal deduction of wages is the only crime of strict legal liability in the Employment Ordinance. What are the typical illegal wage deductions that employers should pay attention to and avoid violating the law?
10. Employers may give new employees an incentives payment to motivate them to join the company, the employers require the employees to work for the employer for at least one year, otherwise, the relevant bonus should be refunded (Claw Back). How should the claw-back clause be handled in legal terms to ensure it is lawful?
11. According to relevant cases, the monthly remuneration of the employees who whose Saturdays, Sundays (rest days) are paid. Relevant legal principles have important impact on the treatment of sick leave allowances benefits across Saturdays and Sundays, and whether there will be full pay?
C. Welfare and Leave Management
12. Employers who fail to provide statutory rest days and "force" employees to work overtime involuntarily are at legal risk. How can employers ensure that overtime work is truly voluntary and avoid legal repercussions?
13. For any additional benefits by employers outside the Employment Ordinance, if they have been implemented for a certain period of time, they are considered to be customary in common law and they must continue to be implemented. The case law allows the employer to reserve the right to unilaterally withdraw and amend the terms of the contract. How should the contract be drafted to include a clause that allows the employer to unilaterally withdraw or amend these benefits, to minimize related risks?
14. The Supreme Court ruled that overtime work on weekdays and Saturdays is expected and necessary for senior staff, and employers can stipulate in the contract that no compensation or paid leave is required for such overtime. How should the human resources department draft such contract clauses to avoid related risks?
15. An employee was dismissed by the employer with immediate effect on the day. The employee left immediately citing sickness and submitted a medical certificate on the same day, demanding that the employer retract the dismissal notice, otherwise, it would be considered an unlawful dismissal. How can the employer legally address this situation?
16. How should an employer legally handle a suspected work injury case and refuse to pay sick leave compensation for the suspected work injury without violating the law?
17. If an employer dismisses an employee with a notice period and during the notice period the employee suffers a work injury or becomes pregnant, how should the employer legally handle this situation, and is there a need to retract the notice of termination?
D. Performance Management Disputes
18. According to Section 32K of the Employment Ordinance, employers must provide either payment in lieu of notice or a notice period when dismissing an employee. To avoid accusations of "unreasonable dismissal," the dismissal must be based on one of five substantive and valid reasons stipulated by the law. How should employers lawfully and effectively implement these requirements?
19. Complaints made by an employee to labour department will be considered a criminal offence under Employment Ordinance Section 72B if the employee is subject to targeted dismissal during or after the investigation by the labour department. To deal with these relentless employees, what are the implications of the courts' relevant cases on the success of employers?
20. After the employee's work-related injury, it is employers' responsibility under common law duty of care to provide appropriate light work arrangements. The failure to arrange such will be regarded as a basis for claims. In different court cases, what light work arrangements guidelines should be done by department heads in order to circumvent related lawsuits?
21. To safeguard business interests, employers may consider monitoring employees' email usage and web browsing records during their employment. Does implementing such operational guidelines violate the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance?
E. Employee Departure Management
22. How can employers ensure that problematic employees do not initiate unnecessary legal actions against them through effective and legally binding separation agreements? The Final Appeal Court provides clear guidance on this matter.
There are still many human resources operational issues prone to legal pitfalls that cannot be exhaustively documented.
Who Should Attend:
- All levels of Human Resources Professionals including Human Resources Managerial Staff and Officer Grade of Staff
- Management Staff of the Company
The workshop will be conducted in Cantonese, please refer to the Chinese version for details. |