Chapter 4: Rest Days, Holidays and Leave
An employee shall enjoy rest days, statutory holidays and paid annual leave during
employment.
REST DAY
Eligibility for Rest Day
An employee employed under a continuous contract is entitled to not less than
one rest day in every period of seven days.
Definition of a Rest Day
A rest day is defined as a continuous period of not less than 24 hours during which
an employee is entitled to abstain from working for his employer.
Appointment of Rest Days
Rest days shall be appointed by the employer. They may be granted on a regular
or irregular basis:
regular rest days
-
the employer should inform his employees of the
arrangement
irregular rest days
-
before the beginning of each month, the employer
must inform his employees orally or in writing of the
appointed rest days or by displaying a roster showing
the dates of the appointed rest days for each
employee
An employer may substitute some other rest day with the consent of the employee,
in which case it must be within the same month before the original rest day or within
30 days after it.
Compulsory Work on Rest days
An employer must not compel an employee to work on a rest day except in the event
of a breakdown of machinery or plant or in any other unforeseen emergency. For
any rest day on which the employee is required to work, the employer should
substitute some other rest day within 30 days after the original rest day. The
employer should notify the employee of the arrangement within 48 hours after the
employee is required to work.
Offences and Penalties
An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to grant rest days to his
employees is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $50,000.
An employer who compels his employees to work on their rest days is liable to
prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $50,000.
Voluntary Work on Rest Days
An employee, except young persons under the age of 18 employed in industrial
undertakings, may work voluntarily on a rest day.
Any condition in a contract of employment which makes payment of any type of
annual bonus or end of year payment conditional on an employee agreeing to work
on rest days is void.
Rest Day Pay
Whether a rest day is paid or not is to be agreed by employers and employees.
STATUTORY HOLIDAYS
An employee, irrespective of his length of service, is entitled to the following statutory
holidays:
1. the first day of January
2. Lunar New Year's Day
3. the second day of Lunar New Year
4. the third day of Lunar New Year
5. Ching Ming Festival
6. Labour Day, being the first day of May
7. the Birthday of the Buddha (newly added from 2022)
8. Tuen Ng Festival
9. Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, being
the first day of July
10. the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
11. National Day, being the first day of October
12. Chung Yeung Festival
13. Chinese Winter Solstice Festival or Christmas Day (at the option of the
employer)
14. the first weekday after Christmas Day (newly added from 2024)*
*Effective from 1 January 2024
The additional statutory holidays from 2026 and thereafter are tabulated as follows:
Year
Newly added statutory holiday
Total number of
statutory holidays
Starting from 2026
Easter Monday
15
Starting from 2028
Good Friday
16
Starting from 2030
The day following Good Friday
17
(Regarding payment for statutory holiday, please see the part below on “Holiday
Pay”)
Work on Statutory Holidays
If the employer requires the employee to work on a statutory holiday, the employer
should make the following arrangement:
Prior Notice to Employee on the
Date of Alternative Holiday
To be given not less than 48 hours'
prior notice before the alternative
holiday
To be given not less than 48 hours'
prior notice before the statutory holiday
If the employer and employee agree, any day within 30 days before or after the
statutory or alternative holiday may be taken by the employee as a substituted
holiday.
A Statutory Holiday Falling on a Rest Day
If a statutory holiday falls on a rest day, the employee should be granted a holiday
on the next day which is not a statutory holiday or an alternative holiday or a
substituted holiday or a rest day.
Holiday Pay
An employee having been employed under a continuous contract for not less than
three months immediately preceding a statutory holiday is entitled to the holiday
pay. Holiday pay should be paid to the employee not later than the day on which
he is next paid his wages after that statutory holiday.
The daily rate of holiday pay is a sum equivalent to the average daily wages 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.
Day(s) of Statutory Holiday(s)
Specified Dates
1 day
Day of the statutory holiday
More than 1 consecutive day
First day of the statutory holidays
NOTE: In calculating the average daily wages, an employer has to exclude (i) the
periods for which an employee is not paid his wages or full wages, including rest
day, statutory holiday, annual leave, sickness day, maternity leave, paternity leave,
sick leave due to work injuries or leave taken with the agreement of the employer,
and any normal working day on which the employee is not provided by the employer
with work; together with (ii) the sum paid to the employee for such periods. (see
Appendix 1 for details)
Restriction on Pay in lieu of Holiday
Regardless of whether an employee is entitled to holiday pay, an employer should
grant his employee a statutory holiday, or arrange an “alternative holiday” or
“substituted holiday”. An employer must not make any form of payment to the
employee in lieu of granting a holiday. In other words, “buy-out” of a holiday is not
allowed.
Offences and Penalties
An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to grant statutory holidays,
alternative holidays or substituted holidays, or fails to pay holiday pay to an
employee is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $50,000.
PAID ANNUAL LEAVE
An employee is entitled to annual leave with pay after having been employed under
a continuous contract for every 12 months. An employee's entitlement to paid
annual leave increases progressively from seven days to a maximum of 14 days
according to his length of service:
Years of Service
Annual Leave Entitlements
1
7
2
7
3
8
4
9
5
10
6
11
7
12
8
13
9 or above
14
Granting of Annual Leave
An employee shall take the paid annual leave to which he is entitled within the
following period of 12 months.
The time of the leave should be appointed by the employer after consultation with
the employee or his representative, confirmed by a written notice to the employee
at least 14 days in advance, unless a shorter period has been mutually agreed.
Paid annual leave should be granted for an unbroken period. If the employee so
requests, it may be granted in the following manner:
Leave entitlement not
exceeding 10 days
up to 3 days can be granted separately; the
balance should be granted consecutively
Leave entitlement
exceeding 10 days
at least 7 days should be granted consecutively
Any rest day or statutory holiday falling within a period of annual leave will be
counted as annual leave and another rest day or holiday must be appointed.
Annual Leave Pay
The daily rate of annual leave pay is a sum equivalent to the average daily wages
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.
Day(s) of Annual Leave
Specified Dates
1 day
Day of the annual leave
More than 1 consecutive day
First day of the annual leave
NOTE: In calculating the average daily wages, an employer has to exclude (i) the
periods for which an employee is not paid his wages or full wages, including rest
day, statutory holiday, annual leave, sickness day, maternity leave, paternity leave,
sick leave due to work injuries or leave taken with the agreement of the employer,
and any normal working day on which the employee is not provided by the employer
with work; together with (ii) the sum paid to the employee for such periods. (see
Appendix 1 for details)
Annual leave pay should be paid to the employee not later than the normal pay
day after the period of annual leave taken.
Offences and Penalties
An employer who without reasonable excuse fails to grant annual leave to an
employee is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $50,000.
An employer who fails to pay annual leave pay to an employee is liable to
prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $50,000.
Restriction on Pay in lieu of Leave
An employee may choose to accept payment in lieu of the part of his leave
entitlement which exceeds 10 days.
Payment of Annual Leave Pay on Termination of Employment Contract
A leave year means any period of 12 months commencing on the day on which
his employment commenced and an anniversary of such day.
If an employee has been employed for a leave year and his employment contract
is terminated, irrespective of the reasons of termination, he should be entitled to
payment in lieu of any annual leave not yet taken. In calculating the daily
rate of the payment, the “date of termination of contract” should be adopted as the
“specified date”. (see the preceding part on “Annual Leave Pay”)
An employee with three but less than 12 months' employment in a leave year and
his employment contract is terminated other than for the reason of summary
dismissal due to his serious misconduct, he would be entitled to pro rata annual
leave pay.
Calculation of Annual Leave Pay on Termination of Employment Contract:
Period of Employment
Annual Leave Entitlements
Less
than 12
months
less than 3 months
Nil
3 to 12
months
summary
dismissal
Nil
resignation
dismissed
other than
summary
dismissal
12 or
more
than 12
months
less than 3 months in the
current leave year
annual leave not yet taken*
3 to 12
months in
the
current
leave year
summary
dismissal
annual leave not yet taken*
resignation
dismissed
other than
summary
dismissal
* This refers to any untaken annual leave accrued in the previous leave year.
annual
leave
entitled in
the
current
leave year
period of
employment
(days)
365
x
annual
leave
not yet
taken*
period of
employment
in the current
leave year
(days)
365
+
annual
leave
entitled in
the
current
leave year
x
Common Leave Year
An employer may elect any period of 12 consecutive months as the common leave
year for all of his employees. Should the employer wish to make this arrangement,
he shall give one month's notice either to each of his employees in writing or
by posting a notice in a conspicuous place in the place of employment.
If an employee has not been employed for 12 months in the common leave year,
the employer should calculate his leave entitlement on a pro rata basis, and any
fraction of a day resulting from the calculation should be counted as a full day's
leave.
After consultation with his employer, the employee may opt to take the pro rata
annual leave accrued preceding the commencement of the common leave year or
carry it forward and combine it with his leave accrued in the next leave year.
[Example]
common leave year: 1.1.2022 to 31.12.2022
commencement date of employment: 1.9.2022
pro rata annual leave: 122* / 365 X 7 = 2.34 days (round up to 3 days)
(*122 is the number of days between 1.9.2022 and 31.12.2022)
The employee may take the 3 days' leave in 2023, or combine it with his 7 days'
leave accrued in 2023 and take 10 days' leave in 2024.
Annual Leave Shutdown
If an employer intends to close down his business or part of his business for
granting annual leave to his employees, he should inform the affected employees
in writing at least one month in advance.
Where an employee is not yet entitled to paid annual leave in respect of any day
during the period of shutdown but he has to stop work as a result, he should be
granted paid annual leave during that whole period.
If the annual leave an employee is entitled exceeds the number of days of
shutdown, he may take the remaining annual leave immediately following the
shutdown.
The common leave year elected by the employer should not be affected by an
annual leave shutdown as the annual leave granted shall be in respect of the leave
year immediately preceding the period of the shutdown.