The Hong Kong Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, which focuses on progressively increasing statutory annual paid public holidays from 13 days to 17 days by 2030, entered into effect on 5 March 2021. The first of the five additional public holidays, the Birthday of Buddha, became effective in 2022. The second one, which falls on the first weekday after Christmas, will become available to employees in December 2024.
The Hong Kong government recently introduced a new bill abolishing the use of employers’ mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) to offset severance payments and long service payments payable to employees upon termination of employment.
The Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022 has not passed into law yet and is not expected to enter into effect before 2025. The offsetting arrangements will be abolished from a date (“transition date”) to be appointed after the bill is passed into law (no retroactive effect will apply).
Update: The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020, which increases the statutory maternity leave from 10 weeks to 14 weeks, entered into effect on 11 December 2020. The Hong Kong Labour Department has recently announced that employers are now able to apply […]
The Hong Kong government introduced a new amendment to the Employment Ordinance to increase the number of statutory holidays from 12 days to 17 days. The bill will be introduced into the legislative council for its first reading on 17 […]
In summer 2019, political unrest amplified over plans to allow extradition to China, and the resulting demonstrations caused disruption to local businesses, public transit and flights. Multinational companies with operations in Hong Kong need to be prepared to respond accordingly. […]
UPDATE Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has passed the Employment Bill of 2019 introducing additional maternity benefits for female employees. Read more. The government of Hong Kong announced that statutory maternity leave under the Employment Ordinance (EO) will increase from 10 […]
On 6 June 2019, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (the “CFA” or the “Court”) ruled that same-sex spouses married overseas (Hong Kong does not recognize same-sex marriage) are entitled to spousal employment and tax benefits. The CFA found that […]
On 1 April 2019, the government of Hong Kong introduced a new individual Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS). This legislation aims to offer consumers additional choices through private healthcare services, alleviate the burden on the public healthcare system and encourage […]
The government of Hong Kong passed a law increasing the maximum tax-deductible limit for voluntary contributions to Mandatory Provident Funds (MPF). The tax-deductible limit was raised from HKD 36,000 to HKD 60,000 per year per person. This legislation, the Inland […]
Effective 18 January 2019, the Employment (Amendment No. 3) Ordinance 2018, increased Hong Kong statutory paternity leave from three days to five days. The daily rate of statutory paternity leave pay (80 percent of the daily average wages of the […]