On the last day of your employee’s wage period, their wages become due and you should pay wages to them as soon as possible. In any case, you should pay wages to your employees not later than seven days after the end of their wage period.
If you fail to pay wages to your employees within these seven days, you will be required to pay interest on the outstanding amount. The interest will be calculated at the rate fixed by the Court of Final Appeal’s Chief Justice. Besides being liable to pay interest, you may also be liable to prosecution and to one-year imprisonment and a HK$200,000 fine upon conviction if you fail to pay wages to your employees. If you fail to pay the interest on the outstanding wages, you may be liable to prosecution and to conviction and a HK$10,000 fine upon conviction.
If you, as an employer, are no longer able to pay wages to your employees, you should terminate the relevant employment contract according to its terms. If you still have not paid wages to your employees after one month from the due date, your employees may deem their employment contracts as being terminated by you without notice. They may then be entitled to wages in lieu of notice as well as other contractual and statutory termination payments.
