Starting on Monday, 4 September, the Labour Department will launch the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), and begin accepting applications on the same date to alleviate the manpower shortage across different sectors as endorsed earlier by the Chief Executive in Council.
There are 26 job categories as well as unskilled/low-skilled posts from the SLS for two years to be opened for imported workers.
A spokesman for the LD said, “The other key requirements of the SLS, including the four-week local recruitment and consultation with the LAB for each screened-in application, will remain unchanged. To reflect its enhanced features, the SLS will be renamed as the ESLS and open for applications from next Monday.”
To protect imported workers’ employment rights and benefits, employers must arrange and grant paid leave to each imported worker to attend a briefing on employment rights within eight weeks of his/her arrival in Hong Kong to ensure that they understand their rights and benefits of working in Hong Kong. The LD will collaborate with trade unions on distributing their information leaflets at the briefings, so as to provide more channels for imported workers to seek assistance and make enquiries. LAB members or trade union representatives referred by them may also join the briefings to convey messages about employment rights to imported workers.
If the prospective imported workers are Mainland residents, employers under the ESLS must recruit the imported workers through the foreign labour service cooperation enterprises approved by the relevant Mainland authorities. Moreover, apart from providing accommodation in Hong Kong, employers are allowed under the ESLS to (i) provide imported labour with accommodation on the Mainland; or (ii) let imported labour reside in their residential premises on the Mainland. The relevant arrangements are in line with those under the sector-specific labour importation schemes.
The application form for the ESLS, details of the briefings for employers, etc., are uploaded onto the webpage of the LD (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/plan/iwESLS.htm). For enquiries, please contact the SLD of the LD at 2150 6363.
