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Public Holiday – for some

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.

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3 responses to “Public Holiday – for some”

  1. Sue avatar
    Sue

    Apparently, statutory holidays are a bit mean, in-terms of number of days. Some factories and construction companies actually put their staff under the stat holidays “benefit”. For manufacturing companies with factories in PRC, often staff “enjoy stat”holidays with a long stretch of Chinese New Year break. But for the remainder of the year, a very little breather.

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  2. Sassy Lawyer avatar
    Sassy Lawyer

    In the Philippines, they are statutory holidays. Meaning, there is a law that officially makes them holidays. The Labor Code.

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  3. A Sassy Lawyer's Journal avatar
    A Sassy Lawyer’s Journal

    Lent, Christmas and public holidays

    Lent, All Saints’ Day and Christmas are religious holidays. Totally not in the same league as Independence Day or National Heroes’ Day. While it has…

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