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Rowan McKenzie

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Rowan McKenzie is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Hong Kong office and the head of the Firm's Employment Practice Group in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. He has extensive experience in all aspects of employment law. Rowan is regularly invited to chair and present at seminars and events and has authored numerous articles on Hong Kong employment law. He is an Editorial Board Member for LexisNexis Practical Guidance.

Addressing whistleblower complaints has quickly become front and center for companies in Asia Pacific. Research shows that it is increasingly apparent that whistleblowing programs need to adapt and evolve with the legal and regulatory landscape, and it is vital that management implements a regular review of those programs. Explore Baker McKenzie’s custom research, conducted in collaboration with Acuris Studios, based on responses from 523 senior executives from companies in Asia Pacific.

As part of our continued efforts to guide clients through these challenging times, the Asia Pacific Employment & Compensation Group brings you these recorded webinars which provide key and practical insights on employment and compensation trends and major challenges being faced by businesses across the region.

As a sponsor at the 2021 Hong Kong Fintech Week, Baker McKenzie moderated several panel discussions and hosted a couple of virtual masterclasses, including one on the topic “Future of Work: New Workforce Reality.” This session covers interesting developments from an employment perspective, looking closely at key considerations for financial institutions dealing with the changing environment including critical risks in cybersecurity, data privacy and intellectual property confidentiality, occupational health and safety issues, and fraud risks.

The Hong Kong government recently announced that three types of COVID-19 vaccines will be available for the city’s residents, raising hopes of things returning to business-as-usual in the not too distant future. While the specifics of the vaccine rollout are still unknown, employers have many questions on what this means in practice. Issues include how the vaccine can be used to protect workforces as well as an understanding of employer responsibilities in relation to the offering of vaccines to employees.

The Asia Pacific Employment & Compensation team has prepared the third quarterly update for 2020 highlighting key changes in employment laws across Asia Pacific. The fluctuating waves of COVID-19 mean that while in some jurisdictions employees are returning to the office, in others they continue to work remotely from home.…

A recent High Court decision in Yung Wai Tak Abraham William v. Natural Dairy (Nz) Holdings Ltd (in Provisional Liquidation) (17/08/2020, HCLA26/2018) [2020] HKCFI 2067 (“Decision”) held that a Hong Kong listed company and its wholly owned subsidiary were joint employers of the appellant whose main job was to serve the listed company as its company secretary, notwithstanding that the written employment contract was solely made with the subsidiary. The parent company was held liable for, inter alia, unpaid wages, statutory severance payment and payment in lieu of notice owed to the appellant by the subsidiary. In coming to its conclusion, the court applied the “overall impression” test set down by the Court of Final Appeal in Poon Chau Nam v Yim Siu Cheung,1 taking into account all relevant features of the parties’ relationship, including the proper interpretation of the written employment contract, the recruitment process, the services provided by the employee to the companies involved, the employer’s confession, and other contemporaneous documentary evidence.