Hong Kong's minimum wage law could cost employers a lot more than expected - up to HK$8,000 a month - because rules for implementing it don't make clear whether meal breaks and rest days should be included in pay calculations.
Under existing labour law, workers should enjoy one rest day a week. However, whether this is paid time off depends on individual employment contracts.
Draft guidelines for implementing Hong Kong's first minimum wage law for monthly-paid workers - which takes effect on May 1 at HK$28 an hour - do not clearly state that meal breaks and rest days should be included in the wage formula. But it lists these two factors in some examples of wage calculations.
The Hospital Authority calculates that it may be required to pay much more than anticipated in monthly salaries - when annual leave is added in with meal breaks and rest days.
'We thought HK$6,200 would be fine,' a person close to the Hospital Authority said, 'but the accountants came back and said the figure would be HK$7,900. 'It's because the rules have changed. When the government launched the voluntary minimum wage movement several years ago, meal breaks and days off were not counted. Now we have to put that into the calculation.'
A senior government official said it would be difficult to make things clearer.
'How can we force people to be paid for rest days and meal breaks?' the official said.
