Leave

The Employment Ordinance, Cap. 57 was amended with effect from 11 December 2020 to increase statutory maternity leave from 10 weeks to 14 weeks. Once the maternity leave pay (“MLP”) for the entire period is paid, employers are entitled to apply for reimbursement capped at HKD80,000 for the MLP corresponding to the 11th to 14th weeks under the Reimbursement of the Maternity Leave Pay Scheme (the “RMLP Scheme”). The RMLP Scheme announced by the Labour Department is now open for application.

The Hong Kong Government announced last week that The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (“Ordinance”) - passed by the Legislative Council on 9 July 2020 - will come into operation on 11 December 2020. Under the Ordinance, statutory maternity leave will be extended by 4 weeks, to a total of 14 weeks. The leave must be taken continuously.

The Employment (Amendment) Bill 2019 (“Bill”) was passed by the Legislative Council on 9 July 2020. The Bill seeks to amend the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) “to extend the statutory maternity leave by 4 weeks; to introduce a cap on the maternity leave pay in respect of the extension of maternity leave; to shorten the period of pregnancy mentioned in the definition of miscarriage; to allow a certificate of attendance to be accepted as proof in respect of entitlement to sickness allowance for a day on which a female employee attends a medical examination in relation to her pregnancy; and to provide for transitional and related matters.” The details of the amendments to the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) have been have been discussed in our previous article which can be accessed here.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau (the “Bureau”) has recently announced measures to extend the statutory maternity leave in Hong Kong from 10 weeks to 14 weeks.