In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, under section 49A of the Employment Ordinance, an employer must keep a record that sets out the wage and employment history of each employee, covering the period of his or her employment during the preceding 12 months. This is applicable to full-time, part-time, permanent, casual and substitute workers. To comply with the requirements, employer’s record should contain the following information of each employee: 

• Name and identity card number 
• Employment start date 
• Job title 
• Wages paid in respect to each wage period 
• Wage period 
• Periods of annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave and statutory holidays entitled and taken, together with details of payments made in respect to such periods 
• Amount of any end-of-year payment and the period to which it relates (if applicable) 
• Period of notice required for termination of contract 
• Date of termination of employment (if applicable) 

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If the statutory minimum wage applies to employee, and wages payable to employee for that wage period are less than $15,300 per month (as amended from time to time), the employer must keep a record of the total number of hours worked by that particular employee covering his or her employment during the preceding 12 months. 

Further documentations are required for student interns under the Minimum Wage Ordinance. The wage record must be kept at the employer’s place of business or at the place where the employee is employed. It should be kept for a period of no less than six months after the employee ceases to be employed. An employer who fails to keep the wage and employment record as required might be liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a fine of $10,000. 

Payroll records 

Apart from the wage record, an employer must also maintain payroll records of its employees for at least seven years, as required by the Inland Revenue Ordinance. The records might be kept by using traditional paper-based methods or by using a computer. However, records that are kept on the computer, source documents such as check stubs, invoices, bank-deposit slips and bank statements, must still be kept to substantiate the employer’s income and expenses. It is an offence not to keep adequate records, for which an employer could be fined up to $100,000. 

As a final note, apart from complying with the requirements of rules above, employers are advised to keep personal and employment records of employees in safe custody and should not disclose records to outside or unauthorised parties. 

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