Increase in the Duration of Parental Leave

The Legislative Council passed the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2018 (the “Bill”), on 25 October 2018, increasing the statutory paternity leave. The Gazette date for the Bill has not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that the Bill will come into force earliest at the beginning of next year.

• The statutory paternity leave in Hong Kong will be increased from 3 days to 5 days.
• The daily rate of statutory paternity leave pay remains at 80 percent of the daily average wages of the employee.

The Bill makes no amendment in respect of other aspects of the statutory paternity leave. 

Proposed Increase in Maternity Leave

Under the current Employment Ordinance, Cap. 57, a pregnant woman employed under a continuous contract immediately before the commencement of her maternity leave and having given notice of pregnancy and her intention to take maternity leave to the employer, is entitled to a continuous period of 10 weeks’ maternity leave.

Currently, there is a proposal to increase statutory maternity leave from 10 weeks to 14 weeks. Under the existing proposal, the employer would be required to provide statutory maternity leave pay for the additional 4 weeks of statutory maternity leave. Statutory maternity leave pay is calculated as four-fifths of the employees’ average daily wages, subject to a cap of HK$36,822 per employee (which may be adjusted from time-to-time).

Employers may apply to the Government for reimbursement of the additional 4 weeks’ SML. The Government to seek the views of the Labour Advisory Board on the proposal within this year.

Edited by Shreya Bhattacharya