THE implication from the letter headlined, ''Expats should not whinge''(South China Morning Post, July 13), is that local and expatriate civil servants are treated differently in regard to gratuities.
This is not the case as both local and expatriate officers on contract terms receive the same level of gratuity.
The only significant differences in terms of employment are leave, passages and housing and, in the case of the latter, the differential has been considerably reduced with the withdrawal of non-departmental quarters for expatriates joining Government after November, 1990 and the introduction instead of the Accommodation Allowance. It might be useful if the Post published a summary of the respective terms of employment to minimise continuing misconceptions.
It is my understanding that many expatriate civil servants wish to have exactly the same terms of employment as local officers, but this is being denied to them by the Government. It appears that the correspondent of the above letter has misunderstood the situation.
D. R. A. MILLER Tai Po