What is the Reimbursement of Maternity Leave Pay (RMLP) Scheme?
The Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 (“Amendment Ordinance”) took effect on 11 December 2020. The Amendment Ordinance increases the maternity leave (“ML”) under the Employment Ordinance (“EO”) (Cap. 57) from 10 weeks to 14 weeks.
Other then the first 10 weeks maternity leave pay (“MLP”), the employers are required to pay statutory rate to the entitled employee. That is 80% of the employee’s average daily wage on the first 10 weeks. Furthermore, the wage of the additional 4 weeks MLP payable in respect of the extension of maternity leave after the first 10 weeks, its subject to a ceiling of $80,000 per employee.
Moreover, the RMLP Scheme is an administrative scheme overseen by the Labour Department and operated by a processing agent to control and monitor the said scheme.
All the same, employers are required to pay the additional four weeks’ MLP (i.e. 11th to 14th week) under the Amendment Ordinance on the normal pay day. Then after employers may apply to the RMLP Scheme for reimbursement of such MLP paid.
Criteria for Application:
An application of Reimbursement of Maternity Leave Pay must meet the following requirements:
- the employee pertinent to the application employed by the employer (“applicant”) is covered by EO;
- ML and MLP are fulfilled by the employee.
- The employee have taken her ML and the applicant has paid 14 weeks’ MLP to the employee;
- The confinement date of the employee occurs on or after 11 December 2020; and
- The additional 4 weeks’ MLP paid to the employee has not been/ will not be covered / subsidized by other government funding.
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