Hong Kong HR Guide
Onboarding
- Employment Contract
- Tax Enrollment IR56E
- MPF Enrollment
- MPF Registration for Non-HK Expatriates
- Compensation Insurance
- Employment for Age below 18
- Data Privacy
Daily Routine
- Continuous Contract (418)
- Annual Leave
- Rest Day
- Statutory Holidays
- Payroll
- Sick Leave
- Average Wage (713)
- Statutory Minimum Wage
- MPF Contribution
- eMPF
- Maternity Leave
- Reimbursement of Maternity Leave Pay
- Learning and Traning
Annual Wrap-up
On Termination
What is Statutory Holidays?
In Hong Kong, according to section 39 of the Employment Ordinance, regardless of the length of service, employees are entitled to the statutory holidays (SH).
According to the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, the number of statutory holidays has increased from the original 12 to 17 days .
Statutory Holidays
- The first day of January
- Lunar New Year's Day
- The second day of Lunar New Year
- The third day of Lunar New Year
- Ching Ming Festival
- Labour Day, being the first day of May
- the Birthday of the Buddha (newly added from 2022)
- Tuen Ng Festival
- Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, being the first day of July
- The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
- Chung Yeung Festival
- National Day, being the first day of October
- Chinese Winter Solstice Festival or Christmas Day (at the option of the employer)
The other 4 additional SHs will be increased in the following sequence:
| Newly added SH | Effective Year | Total number of statutory holidays |
|---|---|---|
| The first weekday after Christmas Day | 2024 | 14 |
| Easter Monday | 2026 | 15 |
| Good Friday | 2028 | 16 |
| The day following Good Friday | 2030 | 17 |
Please note, employee is not allowed work on the statutory holiday and subsequently received additional wage to settle the issue, ie, "buy-out" the holiday.
After working on a statutory holiday, the employer and employee must arrange another day of leave as a substitute.
Do Statutory Holidays have Pay?
An employee having been employed under a continuous contract(418) for not less than 3 months immediately preceding a statutory holiday is entitled to the holiday pay.
Whether the Statutory Holidays on the first 3 months of the employment is paid or not is to be agreed upon by employers and employees.
How to calculate the Holiday Pay?
The daily rate of holiday pay is a sum equivalent to the Average Daily Wages (ADW) earned by an employee in the 12-month period preceding the following specified dates. If an employee is employed for less than 12 months, the calculation shall be based on the shorter period.
For sure, you may adopt the Public Holiday/Bank Holiday practice. In HR system such as Backstage, you can define which set of holiday applies to your staff members.
Reference:
Employment Ordinance:
