Under the Employment Ordinance, an employee is eligible for maternity leave pay if:
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- she has been employed under a continuous contract for not less than 40 weeks immediately before the commencement of scheduled maternity leave;
- she has given notice of pregnancy and her intention to take maternity leave to her employer after the pregnancy has been confirmed. For example, the presentation of a medical certificate confirming her pregnancy to the employer; and
- she has produced a medical certificate specifying the expected date of confinement if so required by her employer.
As leave cycles and entitlements on the system are based on employees’ appointment dates, please ensure that these are entered correctly. For more information about how to enter / change an employee’s date of appointment, please go to:
Maternity leave should be paid for a period of 10 weeks and it should be paid on the normal pay day of the employee. If confinement occurs later than the expected date of confinement, a further period equal to the number of days from the day after the expected date of confinement to the actual date of confinement. The employee may enjoy an additional period of leave for not more than four weeks on the grounds of illness or disability due to the pregnancy or confinement.
The daily rate of maternity leave pay is a sum equivalent to four-fifths of the average daily wages earned by an employee in the 12-month period preceding the first day of the maternity leave. If an employee is employed for less than 12 months, the calculation shall be based on the shorter period.
For more information about how the average daily wage is calculated, please go to:
For more information about maternity leave, please visit the Labour Department website.