Hong Kong extends maternity leave
The Hong Kong Legislative Council has passed the Employment Amendment Bill 2019 in its third reading in July 2020. The result of this Employment Amendment Bill is to:
Extend the maternity leave to 14 weeks (from 10 weeks) for female HK citizens who are currently employed by Hong Kong companies.
Increase the maximum maternity leave pay.
The Employment Amendment Bill will effective start on 11 December 2020. An example is that an employee gives birth on or after December 11, she will be eligible 14 weeks of maternity leave. Any pregnant citizen who is to give birth before 11 December 2020, will not be granted the 14-week maternity leave, but will only be eligible for 10 weeks of maternity leave.
With this revised Employment Ordinance in place, the Hong Kong government will cover the salary of employees for the additional 4 weeks of maternity leave, but with maximum subsidy for each employee being HK$ 80,000.
This is one of the family friendly policies with the objective to help working mothers taking care of their children. This goes alongside with:
The enhancement of services provided by childcare centres and home-based childcarers.
The improvement of the Neighbourhood Support Child Care Project with the main purpose to support women (or female) with young children to stay in their current employment.
Previously, paternity leave has been increased to five days (from three days).
Labor Law in Hong Kong
The Employment Ordinance is the main piece of legislation governing conditions of employment in Hong Kong. Since its enactment in 1968, the benefits provided for under the Ordinance have been substantially improved. It now covers a comprehensive range of employment protection and benefits for employees including:
- Wage Protection
- Rest Days
- Holidays with Pay
- Paid Annual Leave
- Sickness Allowance
- Maternity Protection
- Severance Payment
- Long Service Payment
- Employment Protection
- Termination of Employment Contract
- Protection Against Anti-Union Discrimination
