The Weekly Holidays Ordinance (WHO)1950

The Department was religiously enforcing the Weekly Holidays Ordinance 1950 even after the introduction of the Employment Ordinance 1955 which had extensive provisions for the protection of employees including the provision of weekly day of rest, annual leave and Public Holidays. The WHO required the employer to close his business on one day of the week and to display a statutory Form known as Form A. If he had more than 5 employees he was allowed to operate on seven days of the week but to give his employees a weekly day of rest on a rotational basis. In this case he had to maintain a Form B to indicate the day of rest of his employees.

Shops that had family members working were also covered by this Act. If the number of employees including family members was less than 5, the law applied. Officers from the Department would carry out checks known as Weekly Holiday checks on establishments to see if the law on Weekly Holidays was observed ostensibly to ensure family members had their day of rest.The Department ceased to prosecute shop owners who only had family members to assist them when a magistrate intrigued by why we were prosecuting shop owners who only had family members to assist them and no salaried employees, queried us. Thus prosecutions on shops that did not have paid employees ceased much to the delight of prosecution officers who became the riducule of magistrates.

While prosecutions have ceased under the Act the Weekly Holidays Act 1950 is still listed as an Act that can be enforced by the Department. It is perhaps to warn employers that though they have complied with all the requirements of the law, there is still the WHO that officers can use to haul up stubborn employers for non compliance.

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