# Annual Leave Entitlement Hong Kong 2026 — 7 Days Rising To 14

Source page: https://valem.run/calculators/hong-kong/holiday-entitlement

The Labour Department states that an employee is entitled to 7 days of paid annual leave after serving every period of 12 months under a continuous contract, rising progressively to a maximum of 14 days by length of service. Years one and two both give 7 days, so the first increase comes in the third year, reaching 14 at nine years.

**Tax year:** 2026

## How it is calculated

*"An employee is entitled to 7 days’ annual leave with pay after serving every period of 12 months under a continuous contract."* Then the table: **1 → 7, 2 → 7, 3 → 8, 4 → 9, 5 → 10, 6 → 11, 7 → 12, 8 → 13, 9 or above → 14**.

**Read the table, not the word "progressively".** Years one and two both give seven days, so the first increase does not arrive until the **third** year. An employee two years in who expects a step up because the entitlement "increases progressively" will not get one. After that it is one extra day per year until it flattens at 14.

**Fourteen days is the ceiling, and it is low by comparison.** Singapore’s table also caps at 14, reached a year earlier; Türkiye’s 14 is the *starting* band; the UK gives 28 from the first day. Hong Kong and Singapore are the two lowest ceilings in this whole comparison.

**Two rules on how the leave is taken rather than how much it is.** Where the entitlement does not exceed 10 days, up to 3 may be granted separately and the balance consecutively; where it exceeds 10 days, at least 7 must be consecutive. An employee may accept payment in lieu of the part exceeding 10 days — but an employer may not write a term into a contract under which the employee forgoes annual leave.

## Worked example

With Years of service under a continuous contract of 0, this model computes Days Entitled of 0.

## Inputs

| Name | Label | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `serviceYears` | Years of service under a continuous contract | number |
| `daysTaken` | Days already taken | number |

## Sources

- [Labour Department, The Employment Ordinance Cap. 57 — paid annual leave (7 days after every 12 months, rising by the stated table to 14 from the ninth year)](https://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/faq/cap57i_whole.htm) (checked 2026-10-11)

## What this page claims

The Valem engine reproduces this model's formula through 11 self-test cases. That shows internal consistency, not that the formula matches current law; the cited sources are the evidence for that. Estimate, not tax advice.

## For agents

- Model manifest (formula, constants, test vectors): https://valem.run/calculators/hong-kong/holiday-entitlement.json
- Compute by URL: https://valem.run/calculators/hong-kong/holiday-entitlement.json?serviceYears=0
- MCP: https://valem.run/mcp/calculators (call `calculate` with calculator `hong-kong/holiday-entitlement`)