Seven more statutory holidays after Friday

OFWs in Central

This coming Friday, April 5, is a statutory holiday in Hong Kong as the territory marks the Ching Ming Festival.

Ching Ming, or “Clean and Bright,” is commemorated for Hongkongers to sweep and clean the tombs of their departed loved ones. They also make food offerings, burn incense, and light paper offerings for their ancestors.

The Labour Department (LD) earlier reminded employers to allow their workers to take the day off during statutory holidays.

An employer who wants her foreign domestic worker to work during a statutory holiday should inform her 48 hours before the holiday.

If the worker agrees, the employer should provide an alternative holiday within 60 days, according to the LD.

The employer cannot offer to pay the worker additional wages in lieu of the statutory holiday. Doing so would make her liable to prosecution and a fine of $50,000, it added.

After the Ching Ming Festival, Hong Kong would still have seven statutory holidays:

Labour Day (1 May)

Tuen Ng Festival (7 June),

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (1 July)

the day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (14 September)

National Day (1 October)

Chung Yeung Festival (7 October)

Chinese Winter Solstice Festival (22 December) or Christmas Day (25 December) at the option of the employer

“All employees are entitled to the above statutory holidays. If the statutory holiday falls on a rest day, a holiday should be granted on the day following the rest day which is not a statutory holiday or an alternative holiday or a substituted holiday or a rest day,” the Labour Department said.

“An employee having been employed under a continuous contract for not less than 3 months is entitled to the holiday pay which is equivalent to the daily average wages earned by the employee in the 12-month period preceding the holiday,” it added.