Case reveals how employer's actions completely undermined its own policy claims
29 May 2025
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A Hong Kong court recently dealt with a significant employment law case involving disputed end-of-year payments for four workers who left their employment in 2023.
The case centred on whether these payments were contractual entitlements or discretionary bonuses that the employer could unilaterally modify through policy changes.
The workers argued that their end-of-year payments were contractual rights based on their employment agreements and the company's historical practice of making these payments automatically.
They contended that despite policy changes in 2003 and 2020 that attempted to characterise the payments as discretionary, their original contracts established these as guaranteed entitlements.
The workers maintained that the employer lacked the power to unilaterally strip away these contractual benefits through policy amendments.
The dispute involved four workers with different employment histories within the same company. The first worker started her employment in August 1993, making her the longest-serving employee with over 30 years of service.
Her original employment contract stated she was "entitled to have one month's end of year payment on completion of a full payment period (from January 1 to December 31). Pro-rata payment will be given for an incomplete year of services, if only that you have worked till the last date...
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