Hong Kong
Find out key information relating to Hong Kong’s leave entitlements
Leave entitlement & working time regulations at a glance
Minimum Holiday Entitlement
7-14 days depending on tenure
Public Holidays
12 per year
Parental Leave
14 weeks maternity leave, and 5 days paternity leave
Working Week
40-44 hours (full time)
Sick Leave Entitlement
Paid sick leave accumulates at 2 days per month
Region
APAC
ABSENCE & LEAVE
Additional information
Annual leave
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.