Amendments to the continuous contract requirement under the Employment Ordinance will take effect on January 18, 2026, the Labour Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said on Monday.

The revised requirement, introduced under the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 and passed by the city’s Legislative Council on June 18, will lower the weekly working hours threshold for a continuous contract from 18 hours to 17 hours.

According to authorities, the changes aim to reduce disruptions in employment continuity that occur when an employee's working hours occasionally fall below the threshold. The amendments will also make it easier for employees to enjoy comprehensive employment rights, such as statutory holiday pay and paid annual leave.

Under the new requirement, an employee will be regarded as being employed under a continuous contract if he or she has been employed continuously by the same employer for four weeks or more and has worked at least 17 hours each week.

To introduce greater flexibility, the bill also provides an alternative based on aggregate working hours over a specified four-week period.

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In that situation, a counting unit in which a week with less than 17 working hours would still be considered as continuous employment if the total working hours over that week and the three preceding weeks reach 68 hours.

The new requirement will not have retrospective effect, meaning employees who have already met the existing continuous contract requirement under the current 18-hour threshold will remain unaffected.