Hong Kong Notice Period Rules Under Cap. 57

Hong Kong employment notice is generally expressed in days, weeks, or calendar months rather than working days. Weekends and General Holidays remain inside a calendar notice period. The contract wording still matters, so confirm the unit and required length before calculating an end date.

For a one-month notice beginning on 15 September, the notice day is included and the month ends on 14 October. That is different from simply adding 30 days or excluding non-working days.

Three things that catch people out

1. The first month of probation: walk away clean

During the first month of probation, either party can terminate without notice and without payment in lieu. No reason needed, no paperwork beyond the termination itself.

After the first month, the notice period specified in the contract applies — but it must be at least 7 days.

2. The default notice period changes depending on where you are in the employment

The statutory default under Cap. 57 depends on the employment stage:

• During probation, after the first month, if the contract does not specify a notice period: the statutory minimum is not less than 7 days.
• After probation (or where there is no probation clause), if the contract does not specify a notice period: the statutory default is one month.

Any contractual notice period must be at least 7 days. There is no maximum — some contracts specify 3 months or longer.

3. "One month" does not mean 30 days

The Employment Ordinance defines a "month" precisely:

• Starting on the day notice is given (that day is included)
• Ending at the end of the day before the corresponding date in the following month

Worked examples:

This is not "approximately 30 days" — it is a precise anniversary-based calculation. The difference matters most in short months: notice given on 30 January expires at the end of the last day of February, which could be 28 or 29 days later.

Payment in lieu of notice

Under Section 7 of the Employment Ordinance, either party may terminate by making a payment in lieu of notice instead of serving the notice period.

The payment equals the wages that would have accrued during the notice period.

Key facts:

• Payment in lieu is taxable income (since April 2012)
• Either party — employer or employee — can choose this option
• The parties can agree to a shorter notice period supported by payment in lieu for the balance

Summary dismissal (Section 9): the nuclear option

An employer may dismiss an employee immediately without notice under Section 9, but only for serious misconduct:

1. Wilful disobedience of a lawful and reasonable order
2. Misconduct inconsistent with faithful discharge of duties
3. An act justifying dismissal under common law

The threshold is high. Courts require cogent evidence, and the burden of proof lies with the employer. In practice, this is reserved for cases like habitual neglect, serious negligence, persistent unauthorised absence, or wilful disobedience — not poor performance or personality clashes.

Every day counts — literally

Employment notice under Cap. 57 uses calendar days:

General Holidays do not automatically pause a calendar-month notice period. Give one month's notice on 16 February 2026 — the day before Lunar New Year — and the three CNY General Holidays (17–19 February) remain within the period unless the contract provides a different counting rule.

Notice requirements by employment stage

For a broader comparison of how Hong Kong deadlines use calendar days vs working days, see working days vs calendar days explained.

Unlike the UK or Australia, Hong Kong does not have escalating notice periods based on length of service. One year or twenty years — the statutory notice is the same, unless the contract says otherwise.

Continuous vs non-continuous contracts

The one-month default notice period (where the contract is silent and there is no/currently completed probation period) applies specifically to a continuous contract. From 18 January 2026, an employee meets the revised hours threshold after four continuous weeks with the same employer if they either work at least 17 hours in each week, or—where one week is below 17 hours—work at least 68 hours across that four-week period. The former 18-hours-each-week test still applies to employment periods before that date.

Employees on non-continuous contracts are still entitled to the basic notice protections (including the first-month-of-probation exemption and the minimum 7-day contractual notice requirement), but the one-month statutory default does not apply in the same way. The notice requirements for non-continuous contracts depend on the terms of the individual contract.

The other rules described above — the probation exemptions, summary dismissal, and calendar-day counting method — apply to employment contracts generally under Cap. 57, not only to continuous contracts.

Where the calculator helps

The calculator's Calendar Months mode supports the Ordinance's anniversary-style arithmetic. For the worked configuration and its visible assumptions, open the Hong Kong notice-period calculator example. It is useful for:

• Computing when a one-month notice period expires using the anniversary rule
• Checking whether the notice expiry date falls on a working day or holiday
• Counting the working days within the notice period for handover planning
• Identifying holiday clusters (CNY, Easter) that reduce usable handover time

For calculator details, see the Info Guide.

Official sources

• Cap. 57 Employment Ordinance
• Section 9: Termination without notice
• Labour Department: Termination of Employment
• Labour Department: Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance (PDF)
• GovHK 1823: How to calculate notice period
• Labour Department: revised continuous-contract requirement from 18 January 2026