Computation of remuneration

(1) Subject to this section, any reference in this Part to remuneration shall be construed as a reference to the amount obtained or to be obtained in cash by the worker from his after allowing for the worker’s necessary expenditure, if any, in connection with his employment, and clear of all deductions in respect of any matter whatever, except any deductions lawfully made, (a) in accordance with the Labour Act, Cap. 297; or (b) at the request of the worker, either for the purposes of a superannuation scheme, or a thrift scheme, or for any purpose in the carrying out of which the employer has no beneficial financial interest either directly or indirectly. (2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, wages regulation proposals and wages regulation orders may contain provisions authorising specified benefits or advantages being benefits or advantages provided, in pursuance of the terms and conditions of the employment of workers, by the employer or by some other person under arrangements with the employer and not being benefits or advantages the provision of which is illegal, by virtue of the Labour Act, Cap. 297, or by any other enactment, to be reckoned as payment of wages by the employer in lieu of payment in cash, and defining the value at which any such benefits or advantages are to be reckoned. 15 (3) Where any payment is made by a worker in respect of any benefit or advantage provided as mentioned in subsection (2) of this section, then, (a) if the benefit or advantage is authorised by virtue of subsection (2) of this section to be reckoned as payment of wages by the employer in lieu of payment in cash, the amount of the payment shall be deducted from the defined value for the purposes of reckoning the benefit or advantage; (b) if the benefit or advantage is authorised by virtue of subsection (2) of this section to be reckoned as payment of wages by the employer in lieu of payment in cash, any excess of the amount of the payment over the defined value shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section as if it had been a deduction not being one of the excepted deductions therein mentioned; (c) if the benefit or advantage is specified in a wages regulation order as one which has been taken into account in fixing the statutory minimum remuneration, the whole of the payment shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section as if it had been a deduction not being one of the excepted deductions therein mentioned. (4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the making of any deduction, or the giving of remuneration in any manner, which is illegal by virtue of the Labour Act, Cap. 297, or of any other enactment. 16