On 11 April 2025, the Hong Kong government published the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2025 ("Bill") which proposes to amend the Employment Ordinance ("EO") to change the definition of "continuous contract".
Current framework
Currently, under the EO, "continuous contract" is
defined as employment by the same employer for 4 or more
consecutive weeks, with at least 18 hours worked each week. This is
what is commonly referred to as the "418
requirement".
The EO provides basic protection to all employees, but those who
satisfy the 418 requirement are eligible to enjoy additional
benefits, such as statutory holiday pay, statutory annual leave,
statutory maternity and paternity leave, statutory sickness
allowance, and statutory severance / long service payment.
Proposed changes
The Bill seeks to reform the 418 requirement, which has been an important concept underpinning Hong Kong employment law and has been a longstanding determinator of eligibility for additional statutory employment benefits.
The Bill proposes two main changes:
1. Reducing the number of weekly working hours required for an employment contract to qualify as a "continuous contract" from 18 hours to 17 hours.
2. Permitting the use of aggregate working hours over a 4-week period as an alternative way to satisfy the "continuous contract" requirement. Under this new aggregate working hours concept, so long as an employee has worked for an aggregate of 68 hours or more over a 4-week period (which should include the current week and the immediately preceding 3 weeks), he will be considered to be employed under a continuous contract, even if he works less than 17 hours in any week in the 4-week period.
What are the implications of the proposed changes?
The proposed changes aim to make it easier for employees to meet
the "continuous contract" requirement as the current 418
requirement can be difficult to satisfy if an employee works less
than 18 hours in a week from time to time. It is therefore expected
that the pool of employees who will be able to qualify for
additional statutory employment benefits will be considerably
widened as those employed under more flexible work structures will
also become eligible to enjoy more than the basic level of
protection under the EO.
After the Bill is passed, the amendments will come into operation
on the first Sunday after six months upon its gazettal. Given that
Hong Kong employers may face slightly higher labour and
administrative costs, businesses should keep an eye on the
developments and ensure they are prepared for any upcoming
changes.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
