What an Imported Worker Should Know

If you are an employee recruited to work in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme, your employment terms are governed by your employment contract and Hong Kong laws, in particular the Employment Ordinance.
You should take note of the following information:

1. Employment contract

Your employer is required to provide you with one of the four original copies of the employment contract free of charge. You should keep it in your safe custody. You will be required to produce your employment contract for inspection upon registration for a Hong Kong Identity Card. If you do not have the copy of employment contract, you should ask your employer for it. Your workplace, wages, normal hours of work, post and other relevant details can be found in the contract.

2. Employment restriction

You are only allowed to take up the particular post for the employer at the place of employment as specified in the employment contract. You should not take up a different post, work at a different place or take up part-time employment. Without the prior approval of the Director of Immigration, you are not permitted to work for other employers.

3. Payment of wages and wage records

Unless otherwise provided, the wage period is 1 month. Wages are due at the end of the wage period and must be paid to you as soon as practicable, but, in any case, not later than 7 days after the expiry of the wage period.

Wages should be paid by your employer to your bank account in Hong Kong by autopay. You should decide of your own accord on how to spend your wages. Your employer shall not make any provision in respect of how you should spend your wages. Should you wish to have the transaction records of your bank account, you may make arrangement with your bank to have bank statements sent to you on a monthly basis.

Your employer must provide you with details of your earnings every month and you should acknowledge receipt of the information if you have no query regarding the wages computation.

4. Overtime pay

If you are required to work more than the normal hours as stated in the employment contract, you are entitled to overtime pay at the rate calculated in accordance with the contract.

5. Deduction from wages

No deduction may be made by an employer from your wages other than deductions for:

(i) absence from work (the sum to be deducted should be proportionate to the period of time you are absent from work); (ii) damages to or loss of the employer’s property due to your neglect or default (the amount shall not exceed HK$300 or the equivalent in value of the damage or loss suffered by the employer, whichever is the less); (iii) accommodation provided by the employer in respect of the period you occupied the accommodation (subject to a maximum of one tenth of the normal wages or the actual cost of accommodation, whichever is the less); (iv) recovery of any advance or over-payment of wages (subject to a maximum of one quarter of the wages payable in that wage period); (v) your contribution to the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme subject to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance; and (vi) recovery of loans made by the employer to you with your written consent.

Unless written approval of the Commissioner for Labour is obtained, the total of all deductions, excluding deductions for absence from work, made in any one wage period shall not exceed half of the wages payable to you in respect of that wage period.

Your employer shall not make deductions from your wages for the purpose of paying any dues or fees charged on you by authorities and agents in your place of origin.

Employers importing labour under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme are required to pay a levy under the Employees Retraining Ordinance. No deductions from your wages shall be made by the employer for this reason.

The employer should pay the contractual wages to you in full subject to the above allowable deductions. For enquiries, please contact the Labour Department.

6. Passage, visa and medical examination fee

Expenses for passage to and from Hong Kong on commencement, termination or expiry of the contract, visa fees, subsequent visa extension fees and medical examination fees should be paid by your employer.

7. Rest days

You are entitled to not less than 1 rest day in every period of 7 days. A rest day is a continuous period of not less than 24 hours.

8. Statutory holidays

You are entitled to statutory holidays per year as follows : the first day of January; the first three days of Lunar New Year; Ching Ming Festival; Labour Day (the first day of May); Buddha's Birthday; Tuen Ng Festival; Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (the first day of July); the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival; National Day (the first day of October); Chung Yeung Festival; Chinese Winter Solstice Festival or Christmas Day (at the option of the employer); the first weekday after Christmas Day.

Statutory holidays will be increased progressively to 17 days. The other additional statutory holidays in sequence will be Easter Monday (from 2026), Good Friday (from 2028), and the day following Good Friday (from 2030).

9. Paid annual leave

You are entitled to at least 7 days’ paid annual leave for every period of 12 months following the completion of the first and of the second year of service. Thereafter, the number of paid annual leave days shall be increased in accordance with the Employment Ordinance.

10. Free medical treatment and sickness allowance

During the period of employment specified in your employment contract, your employer must provide free medical treatment if you suffer from illness or injury, no matter whether it is attributable to the employment or not. However, your employer is not responsible for providing free medical treatment during the period when you leave Hong Kong of your own

volition and for your personal purposes (other than for returning to the accommodation provided by your employer on the Mainland or to your residential premises on the Mainland according to the relevant clauses of your employment contract). Free medical treatment includes medical consultation, maintenance in hospital and emergency dental treatment.

You are entitled to sickness allowance if the following conditions are fulfilled:

you have accumulated sufficient number of paid sickness days under the Employment Ordinance;
the sick leave granted by the registered medical practitioner, registered Chinese medicine practitioner or registered dentist is 4 consecutive days or more. (unless for any day off taken by a female employee for her pregnancy check-ups, post confinement medical treatment or miscarriage, any such day on which she is absent shall be counted as a sickness day and, subject to the fulfillment of other relevant conditions, be paid sickness allowance); and
the sick leave is supported by:
- an appropriate medical certificate (regarding an employee’s medical examination in relation to her pregnancy, may also be supported by a certificate of attendance apart from a medical certificate; or
- regarding the absence from work of an employee by reason of his/her compliance with a specific anti-epidemic requirement with a movement restriction imposed under the Prevention and Control of Disease Ordinance, the employee is required to produce a proof of such requirement.

The daily rate of sickness allowance is a sum equivalent to four-fifths of the average daily wages earned by an employee in the 12-month period preceding the first sickness day. Sickness allowance should be paid on the normal pay day.

11. Work injury compensation

If you suffer from an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment or a prescribed occupational disease, your employer is liable for paying compensation to you according to the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance. Your employer must also take out an employees’ compensation insurance policy under the Ordinance.

You should immediately notify your supervisor and seek medical treatment if you are injured at work. After you have obtained sick leave certificates relating to the injury, you should send the original copy to your employer and keep one copy for yourself.

During the sick leave period, your employer should pay you periodical payments at the rate of four-fifths of your normal earnings on the normal pay day.

If, as a result of the accident, you are only incapacitated for 7 days or less and without permanent incapacity, you may settle the case directly with the employer. Otherwise, you will receive a Sick Leave Clearance Form along with some explanatory notes issued by the Labour Department. You should follow the advice given in the notes and approach the specified Occupational Medicine Unit for sick leave clearance.

If you ought to go through the sick leave clearance procedures described above but you do not receive any Sick Leave Clearance Form issued by the Labour Department, you should contact the relevant district office of the Employees’ Compensation Division of the Labour Department. You can obtain the address and telephone number of their offices by ringing up the Enquiry Hotline: 2717 1771 (handled by “1823”).

12. Accommodation and meals

Generally speaking, the employer is required to provide accommodation for his/her imported worker(s) in compliance with the standard as stipulated in the Schedule to the Standard Employment Contract and the standard of accommodation should be maintained at all times. If prospective imported workers are Mainland residents, employers may opt to provide accommodation in Hong Kong for imported workers; provide accommodation on the Mainland for imported workers; or arrange imported workers to reside in their residential premises on the Mainland. The accommodation provided by employers on the Mainland should also comply with the standard as stipulated in the Schedule to the Standard Employment Contract.

The accommodation in compliance with the requirements should be available before the arrival of the imported worker(s). Employers will be requested to make arrangements for the Labour Inspectors of LD to

inspect the imported workers’ accommodation in Hong Kong during their stay.

The accommodation fee, in respect of a period that the imported worker occupies the accommodation, deductible from the wages payable to the imported worker for provision of accommodation shall be equal to the actual cost of the accommodation or 10% of the wages (excluding any overtime pay) payable to the imported worker for the corresponding period calculated in accordance with the Standard Employment Contract, whichever is the less.

The employer is not obliged to provide meals for imported workers. If the employer provides the meals, they shall be provided free of charge.

Employers are not obliged to provide meals to imported workers. If they do, it must be provided free.

13. Termination of contract prior to its expiry

You or your employer may terminate the contract prior to its expiry by giving the other party due notice in writing or payment in lieu of notice as stipulated in the employment contract.

14. Termination of contract without notice by employer

Your employer may terminate the contract without notice or payment in lieu of notice if you, in relation to your employment (i) wilfully disobey a lawful and reasonable order; (ii) misconduct yourself; (iii) are guilty of fraud or dishonesty; or (iv) are habitually neglectful in your duties.

15. Termination of contract without notice by employee

You may terminate the contract without notice or payment in lieu of notice if you reasonably fear physical danger by violence or disease, or you are subjected to ill-treatment, or you have been employed under the contract for not less than 5 years and is certified by a registered medical practitioner or registered Chinese medicine practitioner as being permanently unfit for the type of work engaged in accordance with the contract.

16. Limitation of stay after termination of contract

You are required to return to your place of origin upon termination of the employment contract. While you are employed by your employer,

normally you may stay in Hong Kong until the expiry of the permitted period of stay. However, if your contract is pre-maturely terminated, you are only permitted to remain in Hong Kong for two weeks after termination of contract, or for the remainder of the permitted stay, whichever is earlier. Breach of condition of stay is an offence under the Immigration Ordinance.

17. Occupational safety and health

You are required to follow rules on safety at work. If you want to make any enquiries about occupational safety or health matters, please call 2559 2297. For complaints, please call 2542 2172.

18. Identity Card and travel document

Any worker admitted for employment in Hong Kong for a period of more than six months is required to register for a Hong Kong Identity Card under the Registration of Persons Ordinance.

Your Hong Kong Identity Card and travel document are very important personal documents which should be kept in your safe custody and should not be passed to any other person hastily.

19. Mandatory Provident Fund

According to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, all employees and self-employed persons between the age of 18 to 65, except the exempt persons, have to join mandatory provident fund schemes. Exempt persons include foreign workers whose employment visas are granted for not more than a 13 month-period, or who have joined overseas retirement scheme(s) or pension/ provident fund scheme(s).

If you are not exempted from the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, the employers are required to arrange for you to join the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme, contribute from their own to the scheme regularly, and deduct your contribution from your relevant income to contribute to the scheme.

Employers and employees are required to make contributions equivalent to 5% of the employees’ relevant income to the scheme, subject to a maximum contribution of $1,500 per month from each party. Employees whose income of a given month is less than $7,100 are not required to make mandatory contributions of that given month, but their employers

must contribute an amount equal to 5% of the income of the employees concerned.

All benefits derived from mandatory contributions must be preserved until the employees attain the retirement age of 65. However, early withdrawal will be permitted if the employees will depart from Hong Kong permanently.

If you have any queries on matters relating to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes, please call the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority at 2918 0102.

20. Other matters

Your legal obligations are governed by the employment contract and the laws of Hong Kong. Any imported worker who is found to have breached his condition of stay or violated the laws of Hong Kong may be liable to prosecution and removal from Hong Kong. A person so removed will not be allowed to come to Hong Kong again for employment.

Before signing any document (e.g. wages receipt), you should read the content carefully. You should not sign up hastily unless you fully understand and agree to the content of the document.

Your employment contract may not be automatically renewed upon expiry. Its renewal depends on whether your employer is able to obtain new approval for importing worker and whether he will renew the contract with you.

If you are dismissed because of complaining against your employer for exploitation through no fault of your own, and you have complied with the legislation and employment conditions which imported workers must observe, the Labour Department may consider assisting you to seek employment. The Labour Department will also make investigations and take prompt actions to protect your employment rights.

21. Enquiries or complaints

If you want to make any enquiries about the Employment Ordinance, please ring up the Enquiry Hotline 2717 1771 (handled by “1823”), or approach branch offices of the Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department (see Appendix) in person for assistance.

If you suspect that your employer has failed to observe the employment conditions, please lodge a complaint with the Labour Department promptly through the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme Hotline 2150 6363. All information provided to the Labour Department will be kept confidential.