Additional leave compliance rules and complexities

Annual leave

In Hong Kong, employees under 18 years old are limited to working 8 hours a day, or 48 hours per week. Beyond this, there are no restrictions on working hours, though workers employed under continuous contracts are entitled to at least one rest day in every seven-day period. Employees’ annual leave increases in line with their length of service. For their first two years in a role, employees are entitled to 7 days’ paid leave a year. This then increases by one day for every subsequent year of service, capping at 14 days’ annual leave once the employee’s been in the role for 9 years. On top of this annual leave, employees are entitled to 12 statutory holidays each year, as well as 5 general holidays, which most employers treat as statutory leave. When it comes to sick leave, employees start to accrue paid sick days at the rate of two paid days a month for the first 12 months, and four paid days a month for every following month. Employees continue to accrue paid sick days throughout their employment, but the total amount is capped at 120 days.

Sick leave

Employees are entitled to sick pay so long as they have a doctor’s note and sufficiently accumulated sick days, and so long as they don’t take any more than four consecutive days of sick leave. The sick pay rate in Hong Kong is 80% of an employee’s average daily wages in the 12 months leading up to the sickness day.

Maternity and paternity leave

Maternity leave is 14 weeks, which mothers can take up to four weeks before their expected due date. Fathers can take up to 5 days’ paternity leave, and their paternity pay is 80% of their average daily wages in the 12 months leading up to the start of their leave. There are no laws or regulations regarding shared parental leave.