By The SUN
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| Law says the staggered increase of holidays balance the concerns of labour and businesses |
Starting next year, more than a million workers, including foreign domestic helpers, will have an extra statutory holiday.
This was after the Legislative Council passed earlier today
a bill that increases
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Under the new law, one more statutory holiday will be added in 2024, and every second year thereafter, until they reach a total of 17 by 2030, the same number of days currently designated as public holidays.
Currently, all workers are entitled to all 12 statutory holidays but employers are not legally mandated to allow them to take a day off on the five remaining general holidays.
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The five new days off for everyone will be Buddha’s Birthday, the first weekday after Christmas Day, Easter Monday, Good Friday, and the day following Good Friday.
Buddha’s Birthday, which falls on the eighth day of the fourth month in the Lunar calendar, will be the first to be added to the list of statutory holidays from next year.
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Speaking in Legco today, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong, said the matter had been debated in society for more than a decade and he was very happy that more than one million workers will now benefit from the additional rest days.
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According to government’s estimates, for every statutory holiday added, businesses may face a potential additional cost $630 million, but the move will benefit around 1.2 million - up to 40 percent of Hong Kong’s workforce.
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Law noted that some people in the labour sector want the number of holidays increase at a faster pace, but he said the government had to take into account the impact of the change on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as employers of foreign domestic helpers.
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He said he believes the newly passed law provides a balanced solution.
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