Briefs | FSS to handle maternity leave subsidy

The Social Security Fund (FSS) is in charge of administering the maternity leave subsidy procedure, according to an administrative regulation published yesterday in the government official gazette. The labour law amendment has extended maternity leave from 56 days to 70 days and will come into effect today, with retroactive effect from May 26. Any individual who intends to request a subsidy for untaken maternity leave can apply to the bureau. According to the amendment, local women in an employment relationship with their current employer for over one year are eligible to apply to the fund within 120 days after birth. The fund is obliged to process the application within 60 days and pay the allowance to the mother the month following the approval date.

Lawmakers endorse 2 years of work experience as entry bar for judges

The Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) has endorsed an amendment to the bill related to the entry requirements for judges. Earlier this year, AL passed the bill in general which prescribed a two-year minimum work experience requirement for individuals who intend to become judges. Yesterday, during the discussion of the bill, some from the committee considered two years to be insufficiently stringent and suggested that the required work experience be increased to five years. However, the committee eventually endorsed the government’s proposal and accepted that a two-year period would be sufficient for the selection of new judges.

DSEJ to restart continuing education soon

The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) has planned to restart its controversial continuing education program soon. In a reply to lawmaker Agnes Lam’s interpellation, DSEJ director Lou Pak Sang said that the bureau had a recent meeting with the city’s continuing education service organizations regarding how to improve DSEJ’s monitoring of irregularities. To solve the problem of continuing education, DSEJ plans to introduce electronic systems to prevent fraud. Previously, many organizations were found to be improperly obtaining government money through deception and forging admissions.