Disneyland cuts staff sick leave to save costs
Hong Kong Disneyland is cutting paid sick leave for employees to control operating costs after the company revealed a net loss of HK$4.4 billion in the three years to October.
Paid sick leave per year will be reduced to four days from 12 days under agreements the management yesterday asked employees to sign.
'The new policy is part of Hong Kong Disneyland's ongoing cost containment measure to control operating costs and retain jobs for existing cast members,' a company spokesman said.
Under the policy, a worker who has had four days of sick leave is entitled to 80 per cent of daily wage for each extra day of sick leave taken.
Ng Koon-kwan, a director of the Hong Kong Disneyland Cast Members' Union, said frontline workers often had to work outdoors under stress and many of them were prone to illnesses.
'The 12 days of paid sick leave are very important to these workers,' he said. 'There should be better ways to cut costs.'
Ng added that the management had not consulted the workers before pressing ahead with the policy.
But the company spokesman said the management had sought the opinion of staff members regarding the policy.
The spokesman said the policy still meant 'four more days of paid sick leave than required by Hong Kong labour laws'.
Under local laws, a worker on sick leave of at least four consecutive days is entitled to 80 per cent of his or her normal wage. Sick leave of less than four days may result in no pay for the leave period, depending on company rules.
On January 19, the company revealed a net loss of HK$4.4 billion in the three years to October. It said it may not break even until after 2014.
Big deficit
Hong Kong Disneyland revealed a net loss in the three years to October of, in Hong Kong dollars: $4.4b
