DH Annual Leave - confused again!!

We are about to renew our contract with our DH who has almost completed 2 years service with us. When we first employed her, she deferred her leave from her contract with her previous employer (she was terminated early due to them leaving HK) and subsequently took 14 days leave during the first 12 months of her contract with us (this was agreed with immigration).


We are now applying to defer her end of contract leave with us as it coincides with our vaccation leave and due to certain circumstances we need her to remain at home whilst we are away.


How much leave is she entitled to after two years with us? I'd assumed 7 days for each year, so a total of 14 days leave? However, she says that as she had 14 days last year, during her first year of employment with us (which was the deferred leave from previous employes), she is now entitled to 16 days ... 8 days per year with us. Is this correct? I thought it was 7 days per year of service for the first 2 years, and then 8 days for the third year and so on ....


I don't want to do her out of her holiday entitlement if she is correct, but I also don't want to be hoodwinked if I am correct.


Also, she has asked for leave during September which is when I am back at work and would be mightily inconvenient due to certain circumstances at home ... would it be unreasonable of me to ask her to take her leave either in August or December when I will not be working?


I have searched the immigration website for answers to my question regarding leave, but can't find what I'm looking for ... can anyone clarify? Thanks!

http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/public/wcp/FDHguide.pdf


Q4.9 How many days of annual leave should be given to a helper in a year ?

A A helper is entitled to paid annual leave after serving every period of 12

months with the same employer. The helper’s entitlement to paid annual

leave will increase progressively from seven days to a maximum of 14 days

according to the length of service as follows:

Years of Service Number of days of paid annual

leave for a leave year

1 7

2 7

3 8

4 9

5 10

6 11

7 12

8 13

9 & above 14

For example, a helper is entitled to nine days of annual leave after he/she has

completed the fourth year’s service during the second two-year contract with current employer.

she is entitled to 14 days off during the first year with you which was passed over from her previous contract, so she is correct with this. These 14 days should have been 'paid' out by her previous employers (paid in a lump sum when she was terminated) , so when she went off she should have been on unpaid leave from her job with you as you don't get to double dip i.e. paid for 14 days by previous employers and 14 days paid leave from current employer. Moreover, her flight to her home town should have been paid by her previous employers (they would have already given her the money when they terminated her contract) and her flight back to HK should have been covered by you.


If the above happened, then you do owe her 14 days paid leave. Flight to and from home town on you and 14 days paid vacation leave on you. I don't know where she gets this idea about you owing her 16 days.


IF HOWEVER, her 14 days last year was all paid by YOU, flights both ways, paid for the 14 days she was home then she is NOT owed any more holidays. She may in negotiation with you go on unpaid leave for a period of time and you would need to cover her return leg to HK but that's it.


In terms of when she should take her leave, it's by negotiation. My helpers only have leave when we are away on vacation but I have on one occasion made an exception for an important family wedding.


Your helper seems to be trying in on for size. I would get right on top of this as it will only get worse. If however it is a genuine mistake and she is an excellent worker than I would be inclined to be generous with her BUT let her know that it is above and beyond her legal entitlements. Hope this helps.

Thank you both for that information.


Lagrue - we did comply with everything you mentioned - she took 14 days leave (owed from her previous employer) during her first 12 months with us, and they paid for her flight out and we paid for her flight back to HK. I assume they paid her what she was owed ... but we also paid her full salary whilst she was away, which it seems we didn't have to do, but I have no problem with that.


She is an excellent helper and I'd like to keep it that way:-)


Looking at the scale above for leave entitlement, I think I can see where she has become confused ... after 3 years of service she is entitled to 8 days ... she has probably read that to mean now she has completed 2 years with us, she will effectively be in her 3rd year when she starts her new contract ... I guess she thinks that means she has 8 days for each of the next two years ... making 16 days. I'll have a gentle word with her to explain it. Thanks again!

Good to know Sapphire. Excellent helpers are a rare breed, best to keep her happy but not to spoil her as hubris can get the best of any of us. Let her know what her entitlements are BUT then let her know that as she is doing an excellent job you're keen to be generous.