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Hong Kong Employment Law Update

Hong Kong Employment Law Update 

On December 11, 2020, the Hong Kong Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (“Amendment Ordinance”) went into effect. The main provisions adopted by the Amendment Ordinance are summarized below:

  1. For workers who give birth on or after December 11, 2020, statutory maternity leave will rise from 10 to 14 weeks.
  2. The 4 weeks of extended maternity leave will be calculated using the current statutory rate of maternity leave pay (i.e., four-fifths of the employee's average daily wages), subject to a limit of HK$80,000 per employee.
  3. Employers may apply to the Hong Kong Government's Reimbursement of Maternity Leave Pay Program for reimbursement of the expense of the additional 4 weeks of compulsory maternity leave pay. According to a statement made by the Hong Kong Labour Department in December 2020, the Scheme will be introduced in the first half of 2021 and will be a one-stop online platform for employers to send electronic applications. Employers who choose to qualify for reimbursement must maintain documents that include:
  4. Employer payment reports for the 14-week mandated maternity leave pay (e.g., wage slips, bank transaction records, and so on);
  5. wage records for the twelve months prior to the start of maternity leave; and
  6. The employee must give evidence of pregnancy to the employer (Health certificates specifying scheduled confinement periods, as well as medical certificates or attendance certificates for pregnancy-related medical tests, for example).
  7. If a female employee has a miscarriage at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy (revised from 28 weeks of pregnancy), she may be eligible for maternity leave if certain requirements are met.
  8. A certificate of attendance provided by a licensed medical practitioner, nurse, or midwife (rather than a medical certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner) is sufficient documentary proof for entitling a pregnant employee to sickness allowance for every day she attends a medical examination in relation to her pregnancy.

The following are the key transitional arrangements:

  1. The new maternity leave entitlement of 10 weeks will be maintained for female workers who become pregnant before December 11, 2020. Even if the notice of pregnancy is issued before December 11 2020, The employee will be eligible for 14 weeks of maternity leave as well as extra maternity pay. (if eligible) if the confinement happens on or after that date.
  2. Suppose the child is born before December 11, 2020. In that case, the time during which a male employee will take statutory paternity leave will meet the current statutory provisions, i.e., four weeks before the child's expected date of delivery and ten weeks after the actual date of delivery of the child. If the child is born on or after December 11, 2020, the statutory paternity leave period will be extended to 14 weeks from the child's actual date of birth.

 

 

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