How to determine if wages meet the minimum wage requirement?

An 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 –

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 (Calculated by $42.1 with effect from 1 May 2025)

The total number of hours worked by an employee in a wage period is 200 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: 200 hours (total number of hours worked) x $42.1 (SMW rate) = $8,420

• 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 $420 (i.e. minimum wage $8,420 – $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 to make initial computation of the minimum wage.

For further details on SMW, please refer to Labour Department's website.  

This is not a legal document. The Ordinance remains the sole authority for the provisions of the law explained.