In the recruitment exercise and in managing MPF scheme for staff, HR professionals need to update themselves on the latest ordinances so that they will not break the law.

To provide HR professionals the latest information on recruitment and MPF scheme, JobsDB organized a seminar titled “The Best Practices of Posting a Recruitment Advertisement and Managing MPF Scheme” on 15 April 2008. Florence Chan, Senior Training Officer, Corporate Communications & Training Unit of Equal Opportunities Commission, and Mavis Chu, Manager – Liaison Unit of Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority shared with more than 70 HR professionals legal requirements in posting job ads and managing MPF scheme for staff.

Most HR professionals may not deliberately act against the law, but they may have done things that do not comply with the ordinances indirectly. Take a look at the following and tell if they are right or wrong:

• Posting a job ad looking for a female cleaner for the male and female toilets of your company
• Refusing to hire a female candidate because she cannot take an x-ray since she is pregnant
• Posting a job ad hiring a saleswoman for a lingerie shop
• Posting job ads on the company intranet to look for candidates
• Your job is finished after enrolling staff in an MPF scheme and remitting payments.
• Employers cannot ignore the telephone requests by MPFA to produce MPF records of the company

Among these statements, the third and sixth are right. The first two statements have infringed the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, while the second and fourth statements discriminate against candidates who are pregnant. Ms Chan reminded HR professionals to be careful not to impose indirect discrimination on job candidates. For example, posting job ads on the company intranet may indirectly discriminate against staff who are on long sick leave or maternity leave but may be interested to apply for the jobs.

To avoid infringing the law, it is advised to state essential duties in job ads instead of putting discriminatory criteria or using language that discourages a certain group of people. Also, make sure that no group of people is excluded in your means of inviting job application.

As for managing MPF for staff, Ms Chu reminded HR professionals to provide the trustee (MPF service provider) with a remittance statement showing the relevant income and amount of contribution of each employee. Without this, even if you have remitted payments, the process is still not completed.

Besides, according to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2007 passed on 9 January 2008, employers are required to provide MPF records of their company within a specified period no matter the request from MPFA is put forward during on-site inspections or not. This is to ensure that employers will comply with the ordinance.

Ms Chu pointed out that in the near future, heavier penalty may be imposed on employers who are found to have evaded payment of MPF contributions, deducted employer contributions from an employee’s pay, or not enrolled their employees in MPF schemes. HR professionals should keep themselves updated on new amendments of the ordinance.