Today is a public holiday in Hong Kong – we all know that. But it’s not a statutory holiday.
What difference does it make? Well, not much to most of us, but a lot if you are a domestic helper from overseas. They only get the statutory holidays, which don’t include Good Friday (or Easter Monday), and it is the employer’s choice whether to give them Christmas Day or the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival as a day off. Given that most are fairly devout Catholics, this seems very odd indeed, especially as they get other Chinese holidays such as Ching Ming, Tuen Ng and Mid-Autumn Festival.
I have no idea whether the distinction between a Statutory Holiday and a General Holiday has any other implications, but perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Ordinary Gweilo 
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