Elsie Chan

Partner | Employment and Pensions

elsie.chan@deacons.com

+852 2825 9604

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Elsie has extensive experience in advising on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment matters in Hong Kong.

Her experience includes:

• drafting, negotiating and advising on employment agreements and executive benefit packages;
• advising on all aspects of employment law in Hong Kong including employee protection, benefits, maternity leave and sickness allowance requirements, severance and long service payments and termination requirements;
• advising on employment matters upon mergers and acquisitions of companies, transfers of business undertakings and restructuring of corporate entities;
• advising on the various discrimination ordinances (Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Disability Discrimination Ordinance and the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance) applying in Hong Kong and on claims at the Equal Opportunities Commission;
• advising on employment disputes, including preparation of documents relating to Labour Tribunal actions;
• advising clients in relation to industrial disputes; and
• advising on rights and obligations under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, and access to employee data.

Highlights

• conducting employee investigation concerning allegation of sexual harassment at an international pharmaceutical company. It was a very delicate and sensitive matter and we as outside counsel assisted in an independent and impartial investigation to help minimise the liability of the employer.
• providing advice for a large food and beverage group in relation to sex discrimination and harassment complaint by one of its employee and worked on the defence of the claim brought by the complainant who had dropped and discontinued the case ultimately.
• acting for the Hong Kong subsidiary of an international integrated chemicals and energy company in defending a case brought by an ex-employee for value of promissory notes and unpaid commission.  We assisted the client all to way through the whole Labour Tribunal hearing and the client succeeded in their case with costs awarded.
• advising a large Hong Kong bank on a HK$30 million claim involving the withdrawal of an employment contract for a potential CEO.

Elsie frequently writes articles on topical matters in the industry and has been featured in China Law & Practice, Lexology, Conventus Law and Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management Journal.

She spoke on Hong Kong employment law in United Kingdom for several occasions for human resources professionals upon invitation. She also delivered employment law seminars for LexOmnibus, the Law Society of Hong Kong, Trade Development Council, and her clients.

She was also one of the editors of the supplement of the Employment Law and Practice in Hong Kong published by Sweet & Maxwell.

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