Part time work and MPF

December 26th, 2018. 07:09 pm

The culinary and construction industries often employ part-time workers. They are hired by the day or for a period shorter than 60 days. Employers are under the obligation to arrange for their part-time employees to participate in MPF within the first 10 days of their employment. These part-time workers can be entered into Master Trust Schemes or Industry Schemes specially designed for workers in culinary and construction industries. Regardless of the scheme, however, there is no contribution holiday for the employers.

 

Participating in Master Trust Schemes

  • Monthly paid employees

The contribution made by monthly paid employees is the same as full-time employees. Hence,

Monthly Relevant Income Employer’s mandatory contributions Employee’s mandatory contributions
Less than $7,100 5% of relevant income No contributions required
$7,100 to $30,000 5% of relevnat income 5% of relevant income
More than $30,000 $1,500 $1,500

 

If you are employed part-time in two different jobs, both of your employers have to enroll you in MPF schemes. For example, Mr. Chan is working two part-time jobs for Employer A and Employer B. His incomes are $7,100 and $2,500, respectively.  His two employers have enrolled into two MPF schemes. His contributions are therefore:

Employer Mr. Chan’s Monthly Income Employer’s mandatory contributions Mr. Chan’s

Mandatory contributions

 Monthly contribution amount
 A $7,100 $7,100 x 5%=$355 $7,100 x 5% = $355 $710
 B $2,500 $2,500 x 5% = $125 No contributions required $125
        $835

 

  • Non-monthly paid employees

If you are not paid monthly but daily, weekly or bi-monthly, the employer has to calculate the relevant income levels of different payroll cycles in determining the contribution amount. There are a daily minimum of $280 and a daily maximum of $1,000 that need to be taken into consideration in the calculation too. Correspondingly, the weekly minimum is $1,960 ($280 x 7 days) and the weekly maximum is $7,000 ($1,000 x 7 days). The table below shows the different contribution amounts of employers and employees regarding different minimum and maximum relevant income levels.

Relevant income Employer’s mandatory contributions Emp0loyee’s mandatory contributions
Lower than the minimum level Relevant income x 5% No contributions required
Between the minimum and maximum levels Relevant income x 5% Relevant income x 5%
Higher than the maximum level Maximum level x 5% Maximum level x %5

 

To illustrate, Ms. Ho is paid monthly as a part-time employee of Company A. She works only for the two days of the weekend.  On Saturday, her salary is $ 150, and on Sunday, it is $180.  Her weekly relevant income is therefore $330 ($150 + $ 180), which is lower than the weekly minimum of $1,960).  Accordingly, she is not required to contribute to the MPF scheme while Company A, her employer, has to contribute $16.5 ($330 x 5%)

 

Participating in Industry Schemes

Industry schemes are specially designed for workers in the culinary and construction industries. Unlike Master Trust Schemes, Industry Schemes follow a uniform level of contribution. The table below shows the contribution amount that corresponds to your daily income. Add up the contribution amount per day throughout your pay period, you will arrive at the total contribution that you have to make in that pay period. If your salary is not calculated by the day, but by week or month, you first have to calculate your daily income, and consult the table.

 

 

 

 

Daily Relevant Income Mandatory Contribution Amount
From the employer From the employee
Lower than $280 $10 exempted
$280 to lower than $350 $15 $15
$350 to lower than $450 $20 $20
$450 to lower than $550 $25 $25
$550 to lower than $650 $30 $30
$650 to lower than $750 $35 $35
$750 to lower than $850 $40 $40
$850 to lower than $950 $45 $45
$950 or above* $50 $50

 

http://www.mpfa.org.hk/tch/main/employer/industry_schemes.jsp