But Labour Department officials played down the issue at a bill committee meeting Wednesday, saying that both professions should be treated the same.

Currently, only doctors trained in Western medicine can issue sick-leave certificates to employers to claim entitlements.

Liberal Party legislator James Tien said he feared more labor disputes would arise because of the different nature of Chinese and Western medicine.

He said, for example, a Western doctor might give one day's sick leave to a worker for a flu while a Chinese doctor might give four or five days for the same illness.

He said this type of incident may cause labor disputes when a worker sought Chinese medicine while his employer preferred Western treatments.

Assistant commissioner for Labor Jennie Chan said guidelines were given to Chinese doctors in 2003 on how to issue sick leave for minor illness.

She said Chinese-medicine practitioners who issued misleading statements would face disciplinary proceedings by the Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board.

Trade unionist and Labor functional constituency legislator Li Fung-ying said she worried about disputes arising between practitioners from the two schools of medicine.

She said, for example, that a worker might submit a medical certificate from a Chinese-medicine practitioner citing his unfitness for a certain type of work, while his employer might hire a Western-medicine practitioner in an attempt to ``overturn'' the earlier conclusion.

Under the existing laws, a pregnant woman can ask a doctor for a medical certificate to avoid heavy, hazardous or harmful work.

An employee can also demand long-service payment if he can prove he has been permanently unfit for a particular type of work.

Employers, at their own expense, can seek second opinions on such claims from other doctors.

The proposed bill extends the same principle to Chinese-medicine practitioners. But it does not stipulate what type of medical practitioner the employer can hire to obtain the second opinion.

Chan said, however, the government has consulted employers' groups, which hope for the discretion to be able to obtain second opinions.

She said, for example, if a worker made a claim based on a report by a Chinese-medicine practitioner, the employer would likely hire another Chinese-medicine practitioner for a second opinion if required.

She said either the worker or the employer could seek Labor Department arbitration if they failed to agree on the different medical opinions, but added this was rare.