Legal update: Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 proposes to increase statutory holidays from 12 days to 17 days over next 9 years

On 5 March 2021, the Government of the HKSAR published the Employment (Amendment) Bill (the “Bill”) in the Gazette. The Bill proposes to increase the number of statutory holidays under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) (the “EO”) in Hong Kong by adding the following 5 days progressively to the list of statutory holidays set out in section 39(1):

	Statutory holidays to be added under the Amendment Bill	Effective date
1.	The Birthday of the Buddha, being the 8th day of the 4th lunar month	1 January 2022
2.	The first weekday after Christmas Day	1 January 2024
3.	Easter Monday	1 January 2026
4.	Good Friday	1 January 2028
5.	The day following Good Friday	1 January 2030

The Amendment Bill, if enacted, will have the effect of making the number of statutory holidays on a par with the number of general holidays under the General Holidays Ordinance (Cap. 149) other than Sundays.

The Amendment Bill is available at this link.

Update 8 July 2021, “The Hong Kong Legislative Council has passed the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 with its third reading given on 7 July 2021.”

Agnes Lau

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Disclaimer: This publication is general in nature and is not intended to constitute legal advice. You should seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication.