How to compute the amount of minimum wage? How to determine whether the wages meet the minimum wage?
Labour DepartmentAn employee is entitled to be paid wages in respect of any wage period of not less than the minimum wage. Wages payable to an employee by an employer in respect of any wage period shall not be less than the amount of minimum wage calculated as follows –
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The employment and wage payment mode (i.e. employed and remunerated at monthly-rated, weekly-rated, daily-rated, hourly rated or piece-rated, etc.) formulated between employers and employees in accordance with their employment contracts and the Employment Ordinance need not be changed with the implementation of Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW).
If the wages payable to the employee in respect of the wage period are less than the minimum wage, he is entitled to be paid the difference (i.e. additional remuneration).
Example
The total number of hours worked by an employee in a wage period is 208.75 hours, remuneration at $8,500 and the employee is not entitled to payment for time that is not hours worked.
Minimum wage for the wage period based on the total number of hours worked: 208.75 hours (total number of hours worked) x $40 (SMW rate) = $8,350
- The wages payable to the employee for the wage period is $8,500, the minimum wage requirement is met.
- Assuming the wages payable to the employee for the wage period is $8,000, the employer would need to pay the employee additional remuneration of $350 (i.e. minimum wage $8,350 – wages payable to the employee for the wage period $8,000) to meet the minimum wage requirement.
Employers and employees may also make reference to the Minimum Wage Reference Calculator on the Labour Department's website. The programme is a simple tool to assist employers and employees to quickly and initially compute the minimum wage for the more common work patterns for reference; please click here.
For further details on SMW, please refer to Labour Department's website, please click here.