New revision introduces flexibility in working hours threshold
Hong Kong's Legislative Council passed on Wednesday the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2025, which proposes a flexible working hours requirement for the "continuous contract."
The "continuous contract" is an agreement on the employment conditions made between an employer and an employee, according to Hong Kong's Employment Ordinance.
Employees under a "continuous contract" are eligible for key statutory benefits, such as rest days, paid annual leave, sickness allowance, and severance payments, among others.
The revised "continuous contract" requirement will take effect starting January 19, 2026.
Under the newly passed revision, the "continuous contract" weekly working hours threshold will be lowered from 18 hours to 17 hours.
This means workers who work at least 17 hours each week are regarded as employed under a continuous contract.
Workers who work fewer than 17 hours in a given week can still qualify for a continuous contract if the total number of hours worked in that week and the three weeks before it add up to 68 hours.
"This amendment… introduces flexibility in the calculation of working hours, reducing the circumstances of disrupting the continuity of an employee's employment because the working hours of a week occasionally fall below the threshold," a government spokesperson said in a statement.
The other existing eligibility criteria for employees to qualify for statutory benefits will remain unchanged.
"Employees who have met the current 'continuous contract' requirement will not be affected," the spokesperson added.
The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 will be gazetted on June 27.
