Long Service Payment for a Hong Kong Domestic Helper: Rules and Maths

Direct answer: A Hong Kong employer owes a foreign domestic helper long service payment when the helper has worked continuously for the same employer for at least 5 years and the employment ends by dismissal (other than for serious misconduct or redundancy), contract expiry without renewal, death, resignation because of permanent ill health, or resignation at age 65 or above. The payment is two thirds of the last month's wages, or of the 12-month average wages if the helper chooses that, multiplied by years of service, capped at HK$390,000. It is due within 7 days after the contract ends.

This guide is for a Hong Kong family whose foreign domestic helper is approaching five years of service, or whose employment is ending. It covers who qualifies, how to calculate the amount, how it differs from severance payment, what the 2025 change to MPF offsetting means for a household employer, and what to keep on file. The wage figures in the examples are invented for illustration. Use the real wage in your own contract.

Who qualifies for long service payment

Long service payment is a statutory entitlement under the Employment Ordinance. Foreign domestic helpers have the same protection as local employees, and the Labour Department says so in its helper FAQ. The rules sit in Chapter 11 of the Labour Department's Concise Guide to the Employment Ordinance. Read Chapter 11 of the Concise Guide.

Your helper qualifies when both of these are true:

1. The helper has been employed under a continuous contract for at least 5 years with you.
2. The employment ends in one of the qualifying ways below.

The qualifying endings are:

• You dismiss the helper, but not by summary dismissal for serious misconduct and not by reason of redundancy.
• A fixed-term contract expires and you do not renew it, and the reason is not redundancy.
• The helper dies.
• The helper resigns because a registered medical practitioner or registered Chinese medicine practitioner certifies permanent unfitness for the job.
• The helper is 65 or older and resigns.

A helper who resigns for any other reason, such as moving to another employer or going home early, does not get long service payment. A helper you dismiss for serious misconduct in a valid summary dismissal does not either. Summary dismissal is a serious step. The Labour Department says it applies only to very serious misconduct or a failure to improve after repeated warnings, and a wrongful one invites claims. Check Helpers' guide to Hong Kong helper salary, contract and rights for the contract basics before you act.

The exception for refused renewals

You do not owe long service payment if you offered, in writing and at least 7 days before the contract expires, to renew the contract or re-engage the helper under a new one, and the helper unreasonably refused. The Labour Department states this exception in both its Concise Guide and the helper FAQ. See the Foreign Domestic Helpers FAQ.

If you want to rely on it, put the offer in writing with the date, the proposed wage and the start date, and keep a copy. A verbal offer in the kitchen is hard to prove. Whether a refusal is "unreasonable" depends on the facts, so if your helper declined because the offered terms were worse than the old ones, do not assume the exception protects you.

Severance payment vs long service payment

Severance payment and long service payment pay for different situations, and a helper never gets both at once. The Labour Department says a helper is entitled to only one of them at any one time.

Redundancy has a specific meaning. A dismissal is by reason of redundancy when the employer closes or intends to close the business, stops the business in the place where the employee worked, or the need for work of that kind ceases or shrinks. The definition is written around a business, so how it applies to a household is a question for the Labour Department. Ask before you treat an ending as redundancy.

The practical rule: if your helper has more than 24 months but fewer than 5 years of service, only severance payment can apply, and only for redundancy. If the helper has 5 years or more and is dismissed for redundancy, the helper gets severance payment, not long service payment.

How to calculate long service payment

The Labour Department formula for a monthly-paid employee is:

(last full month's wages x 2/3) x reckonable years of service

An incomplete year of service counts pro rata. The employee may instead choose to use the average wages over the 12 months immediately before the contract ended. A helper whose pay changed in the last year, for example after a raise, should check which figure is higher. The Concise Guide also says the monthly wage figure used in the formula is capped at two thirds of HK$22,500, which is HK$15,000. A typical helper wage is far below that, so the cap rarely matters, but the overall maximum of HK$390,000 is a separate limit on the total payment.

Use the wages you actually pay under the contract. If you are unsure whether an item such as the food allowance counts as wages, ask the Labour Department before you leave it out. The Department also offers a statutory employment entitlements reference calculator on its website.

A worked example with invented numbers

These figures are hypothetical. Your helper's wage, dates and pay history will differ.

• Monthly wage in the last full month: HK$5,500
• Service: 7 years and 3 months, which is 7.25 years
• Ending: you do not renew a fixed-term contract at expiry, and you offered no renewal

The calculation:

1. Two thirds of HK$5,500 is HK$3,666.67.
2. HK$3,666.67 x 7.25 years is about HK$26,583.
3. That is well under the HK$390,000 cap, so no reduction applies.

You would owe about HK$26,583 within 7 days after the contract ends, on top of the other termination payments. The Labour Department lists those as outstanding wages, payment in lieu of untaken annual leave, any pro-rata leave pay for the current leave year, and other sums under the contract such as return passage and food and travel allowance. Long service payment is one line on that list, not the whole bill. The Practical Guide for Employment of Foreign Domestic Helpers has a sample receipt for termination payments.

MPF offsetting: why it rarely applies to a helper

Many articles about long service payment talk about MPF offsetting. For years, an employer could use the accrued benefits from its own mandatory MPF contributions to reduce the long service payment it owed. From 1 May 2025, that changed. For employment ending on or after that date, the employer cannot use accrued benefits from its mandatory MPF contributions to offset the part of the payment covering service from 1 May 2025. The offsetting stays available for the part before that date, and the employer can still offset with voluntary MPF contributions and length-of-service gratuities. The Labour Department explains the abolition here.

For a household with a foreign domestic helper, this change makes almost no difference. The Labour Department states that domestic helpers are not covered by the MPF System, so employers do not make mandatory MPF contributions for them. The abolition therefore does not affect them. Their payment is calculated on the last month's wages or the 12-month average under the existing provisions, for the whole period of service. There is no split into a pre-transition and post-transition portion.

The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority explains why. It lists domestic employees among the exempt persons and gives the example that domestic servants working at the employer's home are not covered, because the services are provided in residential premises. Domestic servants whose services are not provided at the employer's home are covered. A live-in helper under the standard contract works at your home. See the MPFA coverage page.

Two consequences follow for you.

1. You have no MPF balance to offset, so you pay the full calculated amount. Do not deduct anything for a retirement scheme you never set up.
2. If your contract already promises a gratuity based on length of service, the Labour Department says such gratuities can offset long service payment. Confirm the details with the Labour Department before you deduct anything.

The government subsidy does not cover helpers

The Labour Department runs a 25-year Subsidy Scheme that shares employers' costs on the post-1 May 2025 part of severance and long service payments. It does not help a household with a helper. The scheme's FAQ says that because domestic servants are not covered by the MPF System and their employers are not affected by the abolition, employer expenses on severance or long service payment to domestic servants are not eligible for subsidy. Read the subsidy scheme FAQ.

Plan for this when the helper nears five years. The full payment is your cost, so set money aside. A helper earning HK$5,500 for ten years is owed roughly HK$36,700 on the same formula, which is a noticeable single payment for a family.

When the payment is due, and what happens if you pay late

Pay long service payment within 7 days after the date the employment contract ends. Do not wait for the helper to ask, because the 7-day clock runs from the termination date. Severance payment works differently. The helper serves a written notice within three months, and the employer pays within two months of receiving it.

The penalties are serious. The Labour Department says an employer who wilfully and without reasonable excuse fails to pay long service payment is liable on conviction to a fine of HK$350,000 and imprisonment for three years. If a dispute arises, the Labour Relations Division offers free conciliation, and unresolved claims can go to the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board or the Labour Tribunal.

Pay by bank transfer where you can. The helper guide asks employers to keep a record of payment and to ask the helper to sign a receipt that lists each payment. Ask for a signed receipt for the termination package as a whole.

Special cases: ill health, death and age 65

Resignation for ill health. The helper must give you a certificate in the specified form from a registered medical practitioner or a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, stating the helper is permanently unfit for the present job. You may arrange a second medical examination at your own expense within 14 days of receiving the certificate, with a doctor you name, and you must tell the helper the appointment details in writing at least 48 hours before. The Labour Department also notes that a helper with at least five years of service and such a certificate may end the contract without notice.

Death of the helper. A family member must claim in writing, using the specified form, within 30 days after the death. The Labour Department sets an order of priority: the spouse first, then children, then parents, then the personal representative. You pay the spouse within 7 days of the application. For other claimants you pay within 7 days after the application period expires.

Helper aged 65 or above. Resignation at 65 or older qualifies for long service payment if the helper has 5 years of service. This is rare in the Hong Kong helper population, but the rule exists.

How renewals count as continuous service

Most helpers reach five years across several two-year contracts. A new contract with the same employer does not reset the clock. The Labour Department's helper FAQ speaks of a helper "employed continuously" for five years and treats non-renewal of a contract as a way employment ends, which means the Employment Ordinance looks at the whole employment relationship and not one contract. The test is continuous employment by the same employer. See the FAQ answer on severance and long service payment.

Two points matter at renewal:

• Home leave between contracts. If you and the helper agree to renew, the standard contract has the helper return to the place of origin for a vacation of at least 7 days before the new contract starts, at your expense, unless the Director of Immigration approves an extension of stay. Whether that vacation is paid or unpaid depends on the contract terms. Plan this trip as part of the renewal. The renewal process is covered in more detail in Helpers' guide to how to apply for a domestic helper in Hong Kong.
• Gaps and changes of employer. The Labour Department sources used for this guide do not say how a gap of several days between contracts affects the count. Ask the Labour Department before you let a gap open. A helper who moves to a different employer starts at zero with the new employer, because the test is service with the same employer.

Also keep the years of service straight if your family changes. The employer named in the contract is the one who owes the payment. Check with the Labour Department if a household splits or merges.

Records to keep

The Labour Department says employers should keep leave and payment records properly to avoid disputes. For long service payment, keep:

1. Every signed ID 407 contract and renewal, with start and end dates.
2. A written record of the helper's wages by month, including any raise.
3. Wage receipts and bank transfer records.
4. Leave records, including rest days, annual leave and home leave between contracts.
5. Any written renewal offer, with the date, in case a refusal is disputed.
6. The calculation sheet showing the formula, the figures and the final amount.
7. A signed receipt for the termination payments, listing each item.
8. The notice to the Immigration Department of the contract ending, which you must submit within seven days of termination.

This list also protects the helper. A clear paper trail lets either side check the number against the Labour Department calculator. For the rest of the final pay, see our guides to annual leave and to the termination and release letter. If the contract is being renewed instead, read the contract renewal guide.

Summary table

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a domestic helper in Hong Kong entitled to long service payment?

Yes, once the helper has been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 5 years and the employment ends in a qualifying way: dismissal for a reason other than serious misconduct or redundancy, a fixed-term contract that expires without renewal, death, resignation because of permanent ill health, or resignation at age 65 or above.

How is long service payment calculated for a domestic helper?

Take two thirds of the last full month of wages, or of the average wages over the last 12 months if the helper chooses that, and multiply by the years of service. An incomplete year counts pro rata. The total cannot exceed HK$390,000.

Does the abolition of MPF offsetting affect a domestic helper?

Not in practice. Domestic helpers working in the employer home are not covered by the MPF System, so there are no mandatory MPF contributions to offset, and the payment is calculated on the whole period of service with no pre and post 1 May 2025 split.

Can the employer get a government subsidy for a helper long service payment?

No. The Labour Department states that employer expenses on severance or long service payment for domestic servants are not eligible for the Subsidy Scheme for Abolition of MPF Offsetting Arrangement, so the employer pays the full amount.

When must the employer pay long service payment?

Within 7 days after the date the employment contract ends. A wilful failure to pay without reasonable excuse is an offence that carries a fine of HK$350,000 and imprisonment for three years.

A practical next step for families

Start with the date. Count back to the day the helper's first ID 407 contract began, and diary the fifth anniversary and every contract expiry after it. Then work out the figure using the formula above and set the money aside. Read the family guides for the rest of the employment cycle, see the Hong Kong market page for local context, and when you need a new helper, create a family account to start a request. For a specific case, such as a redundancy claim or an ill-health certificate, ask the Labour Department.