Leaving a job, or being dismissed

These notes set out the statutory rules when an employment contract in Hong Kong comes to an end. They cover how much notice a resignation requires and how much a dismissal requires, how payment in lieu of notice is calculated, when the contract can be ended at once, what the final sum includes and when it is paid, the thresholds and the calculation for severance payment and long service payment, and the effect on a work visa. They follow Chapters 1, 9, 10, and 11 of the Labour Department's A Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance (the version finalised in December 2025, checked 19 October 2026), and the Labour Department topic page on the abolition of MPF offsetting (checked 19 October 2026). Where a term of the contract is more favourable than the Ordinance, follow the contract.

Whether you are employed under a continuous contract

Many rights, including severance payment, long service payment, paid annual leave, and sickness allowance, depend on a continuous contract. The conditions are:

1. You have been employed by the same employer for 4 weeks or more continuously, and
2. You work at least 17 hours in each week. If a week falls below 17 hours, that week together with the 3 weeks immediately before it, 4 weeks in all, comes to not less than 68 hours. The 68-hour rule in this item applies from 18 January 2026.
3. If there is a dispute, the employer has the burden of proving that the contract is not a continuous contract.

Notice

1. During the first month of probation, no notice is required, and no payment in lieu of notice is required.
2. After the first month of probation, follow the contract where it provides for notice, but the period is not less than 7 days. Where the contract does not provide for notice, the period is not less than 7 days.
3. For a continuous contract with no probation, or where probation has been completed, follow the contract where it provides for notice, but the period is not less than 7 days. Where the contract does not provide for notice, the period is not less than 1 month.
4. Notice applies to both sides on the same terms. If you resign, you must also give notice, or payment in lieu of notice.

How payment in lieu of notice is calculated

1. Where the notice is counted in days or in weeks, payment in lieu of notice equals the average daily wages over the 12 months before the date of the notice, multiplied by the number of days in the notice period for which wages would normally be payable.
2. Where the notice is counted in months, payment in lieu of notice equals the average monthly wages over the 12 months before the date of the notice, multiplied by the number of months.
3. Where no notice is given in advance, the average wages are calculated over the 12 months before the date the contract is terminated.
4. In the average, leave out any period for which full wages were not paid, and leave out the sums for that period. That includes a rest day, a statutory holiday, annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, sick leave for a work injury, leave the employer has agreed to, and a normal working day on which the employer provided no work.

On the resignation letter, state the date it is sent and the last day of work. If payment in lieu of notice stands in for part of the notice, state the number of days.

Ending the contract at once, with no notice and no payment in lieu

1. An employer may dismiss you summarily only where, in a matter connected with the employment, you:
   1. wilfully disobey a lawful and reasonable order;
   2. misconduct yourself;
   3. commit fraud or act dishonestly;
   4. habitually neglect your duties.

The Concise Guide notes in particular that summary dismissal is a serious penalty. It applies only to very serious misconduct, or to a case in which warnings have been given more than once and there is still no improvement. Taking part in a strike is not a lawful reason for summary dismissal.

1. You may resign at once where:
   1. you reasonably fear violence, or a danger of disease, to your person;
   2. the employer ill-treats you;
   3. you have worked continuously for not less than 5 years, and a registered medical practitioner or a registered Chinese medicine practitioner has issued the specified certificate, certifying that you are permanently unfit for your present job.

When the employer must not dismiss you

1. You have a confirmed pregnancy, and you have given notice of the pregnancy.
2. You are on paid sick leave.
3. The reason is that you gave evidence, or gave information to a public officer, in proceedings to enforce the Employment Ordinance, in proceedings about a work injury, or in proceedings about a breach of work-safety legislation.
4. The reason is that you took part in a trade union, or in the activities of a trade union.
5. After a work injury, before an agreement on compensation for the injury is reached with you, or before the relevant certificate of assessment is issued.

A breach of these rules is unlawful. The maximum fine is HK$100,000.

What the final payment includes, and when it is paid

1. It generally includes:
   1. wages not yet paid;
   2. payment in lieu of notice, where it applies;
   3. wages in place of annual leave not taken, and pro-rata annual leave pay for that leave year;
   4. an end-of-year payment not yet paid, and a pro-rata end-of-year payment, depending on the contract;
   5. long service payment or severance payment, where it applies;
   6. other sums the contract states, such as a payment by length of service.
2. The time limit. Apart from severance payment, the employer must pay at the latest within 7 days after the day the contract ends or the day it expires. Severance payment must be paid within 2 months after the employer receives your written notice of claim.
3. If wages are unpaid for more than 7 days, the employer must pay interest. A wilful failure to pay on time, and without a reasonable excuse, carries a maximum fine of HK$350,000 and imprisonment for a maximum of 3 years.

Severance payment and long service payment

1. Severance payment:
   1. You have been employed under a continuous contract for not less than 24 months.
   2. You are dismissed by reason of redundancy, you are laid off, or a fixed-term contract expires and is not renewed by reason of redundancy.
2. Long service payment:
   1. You have been employed under a continuous contract for not less than 5 years.
   2. You are dismissed, but the dismissal is not summary dismissal for serious misconduct and is not redundancy. Or a fixed-term contract expires and is not renewed. Or you die while still employed. Or you resign on grounds of health, which requires the specified certificate. Or you resign at the age of 65 or above.
3. You can receive only 1 of the 2 at the same time.
4. If, not less than 7 days before the day the contract ends or the day it expires, the employer offers in writing to renew the contract or to re-engage you under a new contract, and you refuse unreasonably, you lose the entitlement that would otherwise apply.
5. Redundancy means this. The employer closes the business, or is about to close it. The employer stops, or is about to stop, carrying on the business at the place where you are employed. Or the requirement for the work you were employed to do has diminished, or is expected to diminish.

How severance payment and long service payment are calculated

1. A monthly-paid employee. Take the wages for the last full month, multiply by 2/3, and multiply by the reckonable years of service.
2. A daily-paid or piece-rated employee. From the 30 normal working days last worked, take any 18 days' wages chosen by the employee, and multiply by the years of service.
3. You may also choose to use the average wages over the 12 months before the termination.
4. The figure of wages multiplied by 2/3 is capped at HK$15,000, which is 2/3 of HK$22,500. A period of less than 1 year counts pro rata.
5. The total is capped at HK$390,000.
6. Where the employment straddles 1 May 2025, the day the abolition of MPF offsetting takes effect, split the service at that date into the part before the transition and the part after it, and calculate the 2 parts separately. Added together, the 2 parts are still subject to the cap of HK$390,000. Any amount above the cap is deducted from the part after the transition.
7. Offsetting. Where the contract ends on or after 1 May 2025, the employer can no longer use the accrued benefits of the employer's mandatory MPF contributions to offset the part after the transition. The part before the transition can still be offset. Accrued benefits from the employer's voluntary contributions, and a payment by length of service, can still offset both parts.

An example, with assumed figures. Monthly wages are HK$30,000. Employment starts after 1 May 2025. You are made redundant after 6 full years of service. Wages multiplied by 2/3 equal HK$20,000, which is above the cap, so the calculation uses HK$15,000. Severance payment is HK$15,000 × 6 = HK$90,000. That does not exceed the cap on the total.

Time limits if you have to claim

1. Severance payment. Within 3 months after the dismissal or the lay-off, give the employer written notice of the claim. The Commissioner for Labour may extend the time.
2. Long service payment. The employer must pay it within 7 days after the contract ends.
3. Employment protection, meaning unreasonable dismissal:
   1. You must have been employed continuously for not less than 24 months, and the employer did not dismiss you for 1 of the 5 valid reasons the law sets out. Those reasons are conduct, capability or qualifications, redundancy or a genuine requirement of the business, a requirement of legislation, and another substantial reason.
   2. Within 3 months after the dismissal, give the employer written notice. The Commissioner may extend that period by a further 6 months. A claim to the Labour Tribunal must be made within 9 months.
   3. For unreasonable and unlawful dismissal, the compensation is at most HK$150,000.
4. For how an employment dispute is taken forward, see the briefing in this batch on handling employment disputes.

What leaving does to the visa

1. If you are not subject to other conditions of stay, as under IANG, the Top Talent Pass Scheme, or the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS), leaving the job does not itself have to be reported to the Immigration Department. You may change jobs freely. An extension must still meet the conditions of that scheme. An IANG extension, for example, requires that you have already secured employment. While you are between jobs, watch the date on which the extension falls.
2. If you were approved in the capacity of employment under the General Employment Policy, the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, or a scheme of that kind, you may do only the work the Director of Immigration has approved. A change of job needs the Immigration Department's approval beforehand. The visa is tied to the original employer. After you leave and find a new job, the new employment must be approved before you start.
3. The Immigration Department website does not give one account of what happens to the original visa after the employment ends, or of whether you may stay in Hong Kong to look for work (checked 19 October 2026). Before you leave the job, ask the Immigration Department, and allow time for a new visa to be approved. Under the General Employment Policy, that is generally 4 weeks.
4. Dependants. If you are the sponsor, a change in your visa affects the dependant's next extension.

A list for the day you leave

1. Resign in writing, or receive the dismissal in writing. Check the notice and the last day of work.
2. Work out the sums due to you: wages, payment in lieu of notice, annual leave, a pro-rata end-of-year payment, and severance payment or long service payment.
3. If the sums have not arrived within 7 days, claim them in writing first, and then contact the Labour Department.
4. You may ask the employer for a certificate of employment, stating the period of employment and the post. Keep the payslips, the contract, and the MPF statements.
5. Deal with the transfer of the MPF account. See the further MPF briefing in this batch.
6. The employer must file a return with the Inland Revenue Department for an employee who is leaving. The form is IR56F. If the employee is leaving Hong Kong, the form is IR56G. For tax clearance on departure, see the salaries tax briefing in this series.

Sources

• Labour Department, A Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance, Chapters 1, 9, 10, and 11 (version finalised in December 2025, checked 19 October 2026)
• Labour Department, topic page on the abolition of MPF offsetting, frequently asked questions (checked 19 October 2026)
• Immigration Department, webpages on the General Employment Policy, the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, and the Immigration Arrangements for Non-local Graduates (checked 19 October 2026)