Hong Kong Outsourcing newsletter
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June 2025 - Employment law update: HK revises "Continuous Contract" definition- from 418 to 468 Rule
On 18 June 2025, the Legislative Council passed the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2025, introducing a more inclusive definition of "continuous contract" under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57). This reform replaces the long-standing "418 rule" with a more flexible "468 rule", designed to extend statutory employment protections to a broader group of employees, particularly those under part-time or irregular work arrangements. The change reflects the government's commitment to fairer labour practices and greater social protection for all workers in line with today's diverse employment landscape.
February 2025 - Abolition of Mandatory Provident Fund Arrangement
Accrued benefits derived from employers’ Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) mandatory contributions (ERMC) will no longer be usable to offset employees’ severance payment (SP) or long service payment (LSP) relating to years of service starting from 1 May 2025 (transition date). However, employers’ voluntary contributions (ERVC) and gratuities can still be used to offset SP or LSP irrespective of the years of service before or after the transition date. The abolition of this offsetting arrangement also applies to occupational retirement schemes (ORSO) under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance.
June 2024 - Launch of eMPF Platform
The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (“MPFA”) announced that the eMPF Platform will be launched on 26 June 2024. The platform will automate administrative tasks and reduce costs.
January 2024 - Increase of Statutory Holiday in Hong Kong in 2024
Starting from 2024, an additional statutory holiday is added under the Employment Ordinance (“EO”).
April 2023 - Repeal of provisions relating to COVID-19 vaccination under Employment Ordinance
The Labour Department announced on 12 April 2023 that the provisions related to legitimate COVID-19 vaccination requests under Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2022 will be repealed on 16 June 2023.
June 2022 - Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2022: Sickness allowance and employment protection under anti-epidemic measures
The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2022 came into operation on 17 June 2022. The Amendment Ordinance has strengthened the protection of the rights and benefits of employees when they are absent from work due to their compliance with specific anti-epidemic requirements. We have summarized the major amendments for your information.
June 2022 - Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022
The Government has passed the Employment and Retirement Schemes Legislation (Offsetting Arrangement) (Amendment) Bill 2022 (The Amendment Bill) on 9 June 2022. Employers will no longer be able to offset any severance payment (SP) or long service payment (LSP) payable to employee against the accrued benefits of employer mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) scheme. The abolition of the offsetting arrangement also applies to occupational retirement schemes (ORSO) under the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance.
April 2022 - COVID-19 – Hong Kong Employment Support Scheme 2022: Application method and penalty mechanism
The Government announced the details on application and penalty mechanism for the Employment Support Scheme (“ESS”) 2022. It will open for online application on 29 April 2022.
April 2022 - COVID-19 – Improvement on relaunch of Hong Kong Employment Support Scheme
Following our previous newsletter, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Mrs Carrie Lam announced six improvement measures on the relaunch of Employment Support Scheme (“ESS”) on 7 April 2022.
March 2022 - COVID-19 – Hong Kong relaunch Employment Support Scheme
Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong announced the relaunch of the Employment Support Scheme (“ESS”) on 18 March 2022. New round of ESS of HK$31 billion will subsidise employers who are affected by Hong Kong’s fifth wave of COVID-19.
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