The Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) rate has been raised from HK$40 per hour to HK$42.1 per hour with effect from today (May 1).
According to the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO), employees are protected by the SMW whether they are monthly-rated, daily-rated, hourly-rated, piece-rated, permanent, casual, full-time or part-time, etc, and regardless of whether they are employed under a continuous contract as defined in the Employment Ordinance (EO). The SMW is not applicable to live-in domestic workers (irrespective of their sex, race and nationality), student interns and work experience students as specified in the MWO, and persons to whom the EO does not apply.
The SMW also protects employees with disabilities. A special arrangement is provided under the MWO for employees with disabilities to opt for a productivity assessment to determine whether they should be remunerated at no less than the SMW or at a rate commensurate with their productivity. For those employees with disabilities who have chosen this special arrangement, their employers must pay wages of not less than the amount calculated according to the new SMW rate and the degree of productivity assessed.
In addition, the monthly monetary cap on the requirement for employers to record the total number of hours worked by employees in a wage period under the EO is raised from HK$16,300 to HK$17,200 per month with effect from today in tandem with the new SMW rate taking effect on the same day. When wages payable to an employee in respect of a wage period are less than HK$17,200 per month, the employer is required to keep a record of the total number of hours worked by the employee in that wage period.
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