Under a government proposal, civil servants could face dismissal and the loss of voluntary government contributions if they are found guilty of a disciplinary offense.

The Civil Service Provident Fund Scheme was introduced to attract talent from outside the government who could carry their retirement benefits from the private sector when they join the civil service.

Apart from mandatory contributions made by the government and civil servants, the government also makes voluntary contributions to the provident fund.

A civil servant can get government voluntary contributions when he leaves the government after completing 10 years of service.

At a Legislative Council meeting of the Panel on Public Service meeting yesterday, Secretary for the Civil Service Denise Yue said it is necessary to introduce removal punishments for civil servants on provident fund terms when they are found guilty of a disciplinary offense, as the first batch of civil servants, who will no longer get pension but provident funds after completing 10 years of service in 2010.

Currently, the removal punishments are only applicable to civil servants on pension benefits.

The government has proposed three levels of removal punishments.

Level 3 is compulsory retirement with full government voluntary contributions; level 2 is compulsory retirement with reduced government voluntary contributions.

The most severe punishment is level 1, which is dismissal with no government voluntary contributions.

Disciplined-services representatives urged the government to give them detailed consultation on the proposed disciplinary removal punishments.

A representative from the Disciplined Services Consultative Council (staff side) said the government has given them a briefing but preferred an official consultation.

Yue stressed that they consulted all civil service organizations on the proposed disciplinary punishments in May.

She explained that they didn't give the organizations an official consultation, because there was no time to do so.

She accepted the representatives' opinion to give them an official consultation next time.

She assured that any violation will be handled under legal procedure and every civil servant will be given the right to appeal.

Legislators also expressed concerns on the proposed disciplinary removal punishments to civil servants on provident fund terms.

Legislator Cheung Man-kwong raised a concern of how the government could monitor retired directorate civil servants who have violated post-service job regulations but have already taken the money of government voluntary contributions.

Legislator Pan Pey-chyou said the government should listen more to the views of disciplinary forces and Pan urged the government to extend the time of consultation.

Yue revealed that the government could officially implement the proposed disciplinary punishments in June 2010.

As of March 31, about 4,000, or 2.6 percent, of civil servants were on provident fund terms.

As civil servants on pension benefits will be phased out gradually, the government expects that the service will be mainly comprised of civil servants on provident fund terms by 2040.

(HK Edition 11/18/2008 page1)