Posted by
curios
14 yrs ago
I have two questions
1) do helpers here get Xmas bonus - ie/ 13th month bonus? Or you just give discretionary bonus
2) How is the long service leave paid and when>?
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1) Bonus is completely at the discretion of the employer. Also if employers give a yearly bonus it would more typically be given on Chinese New Year. Many employers will give a present for Christmas and a bonus for CNY.
2) Helpers become eligible for the long service payment after 5 years. It is paid at the end of the employment. Long service is two third of the last month's wages times the years of service OR $15000, whichever is lower.
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We give 2 red packets containing money to our helper during Chinese New Year which is our tradition as we are a couple but one packet will do for you if you wish to go with the flow and make her happy as it's somewhat expected of when working in HK and most helpers if not all do get the red packet ("Lai See"meaning good luck) from their employers and she will feel left out if she was not given one. The money inside is irrelevant....from $20 to $100 is common and some give more like $500 to a $1,000 which is considered generous but not a necessity. Gifts for Christmas and her birthday is really up to the employers & their relationships with their helpers. We give ours on these occasions and other times whenever I feel like it as she is a gem to us.
As to the long service, we have already given 6 years of long service payment to her as she needed the money desperately and we do not want her to borrow from unreliable sources. Although we gave her HK$4,500 per month, we paid her based on the calculation of HK$3,580 X 75%=HK2,685 X 6 which came to the total amount of HK$16,110.
I hope this deed will not back-fire on us as long service payment should be paid after the last working contract when she leaves her employment with us. She is now on her 4th contract with us and still doing well. We are lucky!
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axptguy38
Is there a cap on long service payment ? I thought it was just two third of wages times no of years of service.
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There is indeed a cap, $15000. As mentioned above "two third of the last month's wages times the years of service OR $15000, whichever is lower." That's directly from the labour department website.
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Axpatguy38 I agree with delightful
I can find no mention of the total ceiling you suggest in the ordinance
What it does say is that the 2/3 is calculated on an amount of not more than 22.5k a month which equates to a monthly salary limit of $15000
therefore the formula is:
2/3 of monthly salary (up to $15000) x number of years service
Sorry if I have missed something - please point me in the right direction if I am wrong!
see extract below:
Amount of Severance Payment/ Long Service Payment
The following formula applies to the calculation of both severance payment and long service payment :
Monthly-paid employee
(last month wages x 2/3)* X reckonable years of service
Daily-rated/piece-rated
employee
any 18 days' wages* chosen by the employee out of his last 30 normal working days x reckonable years of service
Service of an incomplete year should be calculated on a pro rata basis.
* The sum should not exceed 2/3 of $22,500 (i.e. $15,000). An employee may also elect to use his average wages in the last 12 months for the calculation.
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maryland and delightful, I was wrong. Very sorry about that. I do think the wording is ambiguous.
Anyway, if we move on to the next section in http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/ConciseGuide/10.pdf , Page 4, table 1 , there are maximum sums dependent on year of employment.
Very sorry about that.
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My goodness Axpat. I almost had a heart attack after reading your reply as I'm about to receive HK$88,000. for eleven years of service next month. For once, I'm thankful I could read super fast and Maryland's post saved me from either collapsing or dropping my laptop.
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I would not have paid for a new laptop. ;)
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Thanks all - so I have to pay Long service leave every 5 years (at the end of the contract).
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axpat, no worries, that would just give me one more reason why I need to spend 9 grand on a Vaio.
To the OP , from a helper's point of view. We did not get much xmas bonus or even the red packet so that sort of dampen our moods as everyone else seems to be having theirs. However, as I told my co workers... my boss gives me a year's pay in full in addition to my long service. Something that she had done with her previous staff. That sort of cheered everyone up.
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sorry, it re-posted my previous post when I refreshed the page.
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cara would you pay her anyway as she is probably expecting it?
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cara, I understand that your helper's husband also works for you....may I ask is he also leaving for Canada with his wife?
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Cara, great that you have such a good relationship that you could come to an agreement.
One of my good friends has an agreement with their helper who has worked with them for now nearly 10 years now that the husband who is in finance would invest the helpers LSL on the stockmarket and when she retires, they would give her either her basic LSL entitlement or the value of the stocks, whichever was more. I know their helper is delighted with the arrangement and really feels rewarded and valued by the family, so works extremely hard for them. She is kept abreast of how much the stocks have grown every year and has done pretty well from it thus far despite the GFC......so we are emulating this pattern.
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Thanks cara for replying. I can see you have good communication with them.
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