When pay is in dispute

Where wages, payment in lieu of notice, annual leave pay, or severance payment are outstanding, or where you consider the dismissal unreasonable, Hong Kong has a low-cost route and you do not need a lawyer. Take it in this order. Demand payment in writing yourself. Then ask the Labour Relations Division of the Labour Department for conciliation. If that fails, go by the amount of the claim to the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board or the Labour Tribunal. After an award, there are consequences if the other side still does not pay. These notes follow the Judiciary's Labour Tribunal page and its guide to claims at the Labour Tribunal, the Labour Department page on the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board, and Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 13 of the Labour Department's A Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance (checked 19 October 2026). This is not legal advice.

The first step: gather the evidence and work out the amount

1. Evidence:
   1. The employment contract or the letter of appointment, and the staff handbook.
   2. Payslips, records of sums credited to your bank account, and MPF contribution statements.
   3. Attendance records, the duty roster, and records of leave that was approved.
   4. The letter of dismissal or the letter of resignation, and the messages between you and the employer. On a screenshot, mark the date.
   5. A medical certificate, proof of pregnancy, and documents of that kind, where the claim involves them.
2. The calculation. List the amount under each head. The heads include wages in arrears, payment in lieu of notice, annual leave not taken, a pro-rata end-of-year payment, holiday pay, and severance payment or long service payment. Payment in lieu of notice, annual leave pay, and holiday pay are all worked out on the average wages over 12 months. Periods of leave, and unpaid periods, have to be left out. The detail is in Appendix 1 of the Concise Guide.
3. Demand payment in writing first. Send the employer an email or a letter. State each head, the amount, and the statutory deadline for payment. Apart from severance payment, sums payable on termination must be paid within 7 days after the contract ends.

The second step: conciliation at the Labour Relations Division

1. The Labour Relations Division provides conciliation, and helps the employer and the employee reach a settlement quickly and amicably. The enquiry hotline is 2717 1771.
2. For a small claim, conciliation is a required step. If you ask for arbitration without first going through conciliation at the Labour Relations Division, the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board will not accept the claim.
3. For a claim at the Labour Tribunal, the Judiciary suggests that you may contact the Labour Relations Division and try to settle before you file. A case referred by the Labour Department has a referral number. Produce it when you register at the Labour Tribunal.
4. If you settle in conciliation, confirm the amount and the date of payment in writing.

The third step: choose the forum by the amount

1. The Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board:
   1. Each claim has not more than 10 claimants, and the sum claimed by each claimant is not more than HK$15,000. From 17 September 2021, that limit was raised from HK$8,000.
   2. Conciliation at the Labour Relations Division must have been tried, and must have failed.
   3. An adjudication officer hears the claim. The hearing is held in public. Neither side may instruct a lawyer to appear.
   4. The adjudication officer's award or order is legally binding.
2. The Labour Tribunal:
   1. A claim for more than HK$15,000.
   2. Or a claim with more than 10 claimants.
   3. A party may not be represented by a lawyer. A lawyer may sit in the public gallery and listen.
   4. A Tribunal Officer helps to investigate the claim, and meets both sides.

How a claim at the Labour Tribunal proceeds

1. Make an appointment, and report to the registry of the Labour Tribunal. Produce your Hong Kong identity card, and the Labour Department's case referral number if you have one.
2. A Tribunal Officer helps you complete the claim.
3. Filing fees. The Judiciary's guide to claims lists them, and states the amounts as up to December 2017. Check the figures with the Tribunal before you file.
   1. HK$2,000 or below: HK$20.
   2. HK$2,001 to HK$5,000: HK$30.
   3. HK$5,001 to HK$10,000: HK$40.
   4. Above HK$10,000: HK$50.
   5. Service of documents: a further HK$10 for each address of a defendant.

If you apply in writing and show sufficient reason, the Tribunal may waive the fee or defer payment.

1. After the claim is issued, you receive notice of the hearing date. The first hearing is the call-over. It is fixed for a day between 10 and 30 days after filing.
2. In that period the Tribunal Officer goes on investigating with both sides. The defendant must file a defence, in the form of a witness statement.
3. Time limit. A claim that arose more than 6 years ago may be caught by the Limitation Ordinance (Cap. 347).

Time limits that go with employment protection

1. A claim for compensation for unreasonable dismissal, or for an unreasonable variation of the terms of the contract, requires written notice to the employer within 3 months after the dismissal, or after the variation takes effect. Where there is sufficient reason, the Commissioner for Labour may extend that period by a further 6 months.
2. A claim of this kind must be brought at the Labour Tribunal within 9 months.
3. Severance payment must be claimed from the employer in writing within 3 months after the dismissal or the lay-off. The Commissioner may extend the time.
4. For unreasonable and unlawful dismissal, the Tribunal may award compensation of up to HK$150,000. If it orders reinstatement or re-engagement and the employer does not comply, the employer must also pay an additional sum. That sum is 3 times the average monthly wages, and it is capped at HK$72,500.

If the other side does not pay after the award

1. The Employment Ordinance deals with an award that orders the employer to pay a specified entitlement. If the employer, wilfully and without reasonable excuse, still has not paid within 14 days after the date the award requires payment, that is a criminal offence. The maximum penalty is a fine of HK$350,000 and imprisonment for 3 years.
2. A specified entitlement includes wages, an end-of-year payment, maternity leave pay, paternity leave pay, severance payment, long service payment, sickness allowance, holiday pay, and annual leave pay. It also includes, in a case of unreasonable and unlawful dismissal, the terminal payment, the compensation, and the additional sum that were awarded.
3. Where a body corporate owes the sum, and it is proved that the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of a director, a manager, a secretary, or an officer of that kind, or was attributable to the neglect of such a person, that person is criminally liable as well.
4. If the award states no date for payment, the sum must be paid within 14 days after the date of the award.
5. A settlement confirmed by the Labour Tribunal, or by the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board, is treated as an award.

Protection while you are still employed

1. The employer must not dismiss you because you gave evidence in proceedings to enforce the Employment Ordinance, or because you gave information to a public officer who was making an inquiry. The maximum fine is HK$100,000.
2. If the employer, without reasonable excuse, fails to grant a rest day, a statutory holiday, or annual leave, or fails to pay the related pay, the maximum fine is HK$50,000. You may ask the Labour Department, or report the matter to it.

If you are not a local employee

1. The expiry date of the visa. The claims process does not extend your limit of stay. If you need to appear at a hearing while the case is being heard, plan the visa ahead. If you are unsure, ask the Immigration Department.
2. The process after you leave Hong Kong. Before you leave, confirm with the Tribunal Officer, or with the Labour Relations Division, how they will contact you, and whether you need to attend in person.
3. Keep the records first. Before you leave the job, copy the contract, the payslips, and the messages onto a device of your own. After you leave, you often cannot get records out of the company's systems.

A checklist

1. List the heads of claim and the amounts, and attach the method of calculation.
2. Demand payment in writing, and keep proof that you sent it.
3. Call 2717 1771, or go to a branch office of the Labour Relations Division, and ask for conciliation.
4. If conciliation fails: where each person claims HK$15,000 or less, go to the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board. Where the claim is above that, register and file at the Labour Tribunal.
5. Watch the time limits, including 3 months, 9 months, and 6 years.

Sources

• Judiciary, Labour Tribunal page, and the guide to claims at the Labour Tribunal (checked 19 October 2026; the filing-fee table is stated as up to December 2017)
• Labour Department, Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board, page (checked 19 October 2026)
• Labour Department, A Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance, Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 13 (version finalised in December 2025, checked 19 October 2026)