Coronavirus: Hong Kong Labour Department ‘moving too slowly’ with compensation claims by workers who fell ill with Covid-19
- Of the 79 claims confirmed to be work-related, employers have settled just 11 so far
- Some bosses not happy to cover workers in hospital for too long, or those in quarantine
Union officials said the process was moving too slowly, and accused some employers of resisting their responsibility to compensate affected workers.
Since Covid-19 hit the city in January last year, 539 employees who suspected they had contracted the coronavirus at work filed claims with the Labour Department seeking compensation from their bosses. Two other claims were filed by the families of two workers who died after contracting Covid-19.
Official records show that of the total, 197 of the claimants worked in the public administration, social and personal services and 114 in the sectors covering finance and insurance, real estate and other related businesses. Another 78 were from transport, postal and other related services, 63 in construction and 42 in the food and beverage sector.
The department said 79 were confirmed to be work injury cases and so the staff had to be compensated by their employers.