The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has raised the statutory minimum wage from HK$40 per hour to HK$42.1 per hour with effect from Labour Day, which fell on Thursday this year.

Under the Minimum Wage Ordinance, employees are protected by the statutory minimum wage regardless of whether they are monthly-rated, daily-rated, hourly-rated, piece-rated, permanent, casual, full-time or part-time, etc, or employed under a continuous contract as defined in the SAR’s Employment Ordinance.

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The minimum wage, however, is not applicable to live-in domestic workers, student interns, and work experience students as specified in the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO), and persons to whom the Employment Ordinance does not apply, the government said in a notification.

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 minimum wage or at a rate commensurate with their productivity.

For employees with disabilities who have chosen the special arrangement, their employers must pay wages of not less than the amount calculated according to the new minimum wage rate and the degree of productivity assessed, the government added.

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According to the Labour Department, 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 Employment Ordinance has been raised from HK$16,300 to HK$17,200 per month, also with effect from Thursday.

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.