Starting a new job? Your MPF 60-day enrolment and contribution checklist

This article is a rewrite of a report from June 2012.

June was graduation job-hunting season, and workplace newcomers needed to watch — beyond salary and prospects — whether employers had their MPF sorted. This first instalment of a series covered the joining formalities.

MPF 60 days: how fast must enrolment happen?

Anyone aged 18 to under 65 employed for 60 days or more had to join an MPF scheme; employers had to provide scheme information and enrolment forms within the first 60 days of employment. Employees completed the application, stated their investment mandate (fund choices), and returned it via the employer; blank investment choices meant contributions went into the scheme’s default fund. Casual workers in catering and construction had to be enrolled and contributed for even under 60 days.

How to verify contributions are correct?

Monthly-paid employees with relevant income between HK$6,500 and HK$25,000 (HK$20,000 if the contribution period started before 1 June 2012) each paid 5 per cent from employer and employee, capped at HK$1,250 each (HK$1,000 for pre-June periods). Those earning under HK$6,500 paid nothing, but employers still contributed for them.

“Relevant income” covered wages, salaries, leave pay, commissions, bonuses, contract gratuities, tips and allowances (including housing) paid in money — excluding long service and severance payments under the Employment Ordinance. Verify against total income, not just basic salary.

Three more must-dos: one, receive the “member certificate” — issued after the trustee processed enrolment; check personal details on receipt, and chase the employer or trustee if it never arrived. Two, the new-joiner holiday — no employee contributions for the first 30 days plus the first incomplete pay period after that, though employers contributed from day one (not applicable to catering/construction casuals). Three, the monthly “contribution record” — employers had to issue it within seven working days of each monthly contribution, showing relevant income, both contribution amounts and the payment date. Never ignore it.