Coronavirus: Hong Kong bosses taking no chances with infected workers even as mandatory isolation for Covid patients is axed

Operators in some sectors say they will still ask infected staff to stay at home to protect other workers and people they serve

But whether worker receives paid sick leave depends on employer if doctor’s medical certificate recommends fewer than four days off

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The community isolation facility at Kai Tak. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 9:45am, 28 Jan 2023Updated: 9:57am, 28 Jan 2023

Covid-19 patients in Hong Kong will no longer be required to undergo mandatory isolation from Monday, but employers in some sectors have said they will still ask infected staff to stay at home to protect other workers and the people they serve.

Operators in the school, care home, restaurant and hotel sectors the Post talked to were responding to the government’s decision to scrap the isolation policy for Covid-19 patients, who will be able to leave home and go to work on their own accord from January 30.

But without the isolation orders that entitled employees to paid sick leave of any duration, labour laws allow employers to decide whether to provide such benefits to staff if the time off work recommended by doctors in a medical certificate is fewer than four days.

Hong Kong drops its isolation policy on January 30. Photo: Edmond So

Restaurateur Yeung Wai-sing, who also chairs the Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management, welcomed the flexibility that the policy removal allowed, especially as the industry faced a manpower shortage.

“No matter if it’s negative or positive, if [an employee] is asymptomatic we will ask him to put on a mask and work. That should be fine as customers won’t notice,” he said on Friday.

But Yeung said staff with symptoms would be sent home as they could put off customers, especially in Chinese restaurants where big families with young and old gathered. Unwell workers were also less likely to endure the long shifts customary in the catering industry, he added.

If fewer than four days of sick leave were needed, Yeung said he expected staff would be told to offset the time off with compensation leave or even annual leave until their symptoms eased.