Offer Letter HK: Cap. 57 s.44 Disclosure and the 468 Rule

In practice, an offer letter (often called a letter of appointment) is a written proposal of employment on stated terms. Once the candidate signs and returns the acceptance before the offer lapses, a contract exists under the ordinary common law rules of offer and acceptance. Nothing in Cap. 57 requires a contract of employment to be in writing, and oral contracts are valid. What the Ordinance does require is disclosure: before employment begins, the employee must be told the rate of wages, overtime rate and allowances, the wage period, the length of notice and any end of year payment.

The letter is not always the whole contract. Many smaller employers issue a detailed offer that stands as the entire agreement, while banks and multinationals send a short offer followed by a full employment contract drafted to Cap. 57 and the 468 rule. Both approaches work if the two documents tell the same story. Where the offer promises one month's notice and the contract says seven days, an entire agreement clause in the contract usually settles the point; without one, the ambiguity is read against the employer under the contra proferentem rule.

The anchor provision is section 44 of the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57). Before employment begins, the employer must disclose the wages (rate, overtime rate and allowances), the wage period, the notice required to terminate and any end of year payment with its payment period. A written contract must be copied to the employee, and an employee hired orally may ask for the terms in writing before starting. Section 45 extends the duty to later changes, and an employer who wilfully and without reasonable excuse fails to comply commits an offence. The Labour Department guide to the conditions of service disclosed before employment gives the official reading.

Section 70 voids any term that reduces a right under the Ordinance, whatever the candidate signs. The wage period is presumed to be one month under section 22, and section 23 requires payment within seven days of its end. Once probation is over, section 6 sets notice for a continuous contract at one month where the parties are silent and never less than seven days where they agree a figure, with wages in lieu under section 7. Since 18 January 2026, the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 has replaced the 418 rule: after four weeks with the same employer, an employee is on a continuous contract if they work at least 17 hours each week or 68 hours over four consecutive weeks.

Around Cap. 57 sit the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485), with MPF enrolment due within the first 60 days, the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282), which makes insurance compulsory from day one, and the Minimum Wage Ordinance (Cap. 608). Section 52(4) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) adds an IR56E filing within three months of the start date. The offer itself is caught by anti-discrimination law: section 11 of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 480) prohibits discrimination in the terms on which employment is offered, as do the disability, family status and race ordinances.

The classic trigger is a candidate who must resign from a current job. Professionals in Hong Kong commonly serve one to three months' notice, and nobody sensible resigns on the strength of a phone call. The second scenario is speed: the commercial terms are agreed but the full contract and restrictive covenants are still under review, so the offer locks in the section 44 terms while the rest is finalised. Conditional hiring is the third use and the most technical one, with the start date floating until a visa, a reference check or a professional licence comes through. The fourth is the hourly or part-time hire who will cross the 468 threshold within weeks, where written hours and a rate at or above the Cap. 608 minimum wage prevent later arguments about rest days and holiday pay.

Two edge cases deserve attention. Rehiring a former employee after a short break invites disputes about whether earlier service counts toward annual leave and long service payment, so the letter should say whether prior service is recognised. And foreign domestic helpers fall outside this template entirely: their employment must use the Immigration Department's Standard Employment Contract (ID 407), which no offer letter can replace or vary.

• The position, reporting line and place of work are described precisely enough to resist later disputes about demotion or relocation. The template adds the department, line manager and normal workplace to the bare title.
• The commencement date can be fixed or conditional. Because continuity under Cap. 57 runs from this date, it also drives annual leave, the probation clock and long service payment.
• The wages clause states the rate, any overtime rate and every allowance, the items section 44 lists. It separates a contractual end of year payment, governed by Part IIA of the Ordinance, from a bonus paid at the employer's discretion, which sits outside both Part IIA and the statutory definition of wages.
• The wage period and pay date are set out expressly, with payment no later than seven days after each period ends. The same paragraph confirms MPF enrolment and employees' compensation cover.
• The probation and notice provisions distinguish the first month of probation, the rest of probation and the confirmed period. Payment in lieu is available to either party under section 7.
• The conditions precedent cover the right to work in Hong Kong, references, qualification checks and, where the role justifies it, signature of non-compete and non-solicitation covenants. If a condition fails, the offer falls away without liability.
• The acceptance block and lapse date require the candidate to sign, date and confirm that no restriction owed to a current employer prevents them from joining. A short personal information collection statement follows, as Data Protection Principle 1 of Cap. 486 expects.

Non-local hires. Employing someone who is not lawfully employable is an offence under section 17I of the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115), and section 17J requires the employer to inspect the identity card or travel document before hiring. Where the candidate needs a sponsored visa under the General Employment Policy or the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, the offer must be conditional on Immigration Department approval, with the start date tied to the visa label. The Department checks the package against market levels, so the figures in the offer and in the employment visa sponsorship pack for GEP applications must match exactly. Top Talent Pass holders need no sponsorship, though the identity check still applies.

Banking and regulated financial roles. Authorised institutions filling roles under the HKMA-endorsed Mandatory Reference Checking Scheme must obtain the candidate's written consent and request conduct references from current and former authorised institution employers before appointment. On the securities side, a licensed representative under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) may act only for a licensed corporation to which the SFC has accredited them, and a transfer of accreditation must be sought within 180 days of leaving the previous firm. The offer should make both steps conditions, with a start date that moves if either is delayed.

Directors and senior executives. Section 534 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) requires members' approval before a company agrees to a director's employment whose guaranteed term exceeds, or may exceed, three years. A fixed term of three years followed by six months' notice crosses that line. The approval belongs to the members, not the board, so the safe course is a members' written resolution passed before the letter is signed, prepared with a board and written resolutions pack under Cap. 622. Sign-on awards and clawback terms also belong in the letter, not in a side email.

You start with the employer's full legal name, Business Registration number and address, then the candidate's name exactly as it appears on the identity card or passport. From there, the form asks for the job title, department, reporting line and place of work, followed by the commencement date, fixed or conditional on a visa or regulatory approval. The wages step collects the monthly or hourly rate, any overtime rate and each allowance, and asks whether an end of year payment is contractual or discretionary, so the wording matches what you intend to pay. You then choose the wage period, the probation length and the notice periods, bearing in mind that agreed notice on a continuous contract cannot drop below seven days once the first month of probation has passed. Next come the conditions precedent, and finally the acceptance deadline and the employer's signatory. The document is produced in Word and PDF at once. File the countersigned copy on the personnel record, because the start date it records drives both the wage and employment records and the IR56E deadline.

The most expensive mistake is loose bonus language. Writing "13th month salary" or "double pay" creates a contractual end of year payment, with a statutory pro rata entitlement if the employer ends the employment, other than by summary dismissal, after at least three months of the payment period. If the intention is a performance bonus, the letter must say in plain words that payment is discretionary. The second mistake is inconsistent notice, with seven days in the offer and one month in the contract, or a figure below the statutory floor that section 70 simply strikes out. Third, many employers forget the lapse date and leave an offer open for weeks while the candidate shops it around.

Withdrawing an offer after the candidate has signed is a breach of contract, not a change of mind. The exposure grows sharply if the real reason is a pregnancy or disability disclosed after acceptance, which opens a claim under Cap. 480 or Cap. 487. Finally, do not collect more personal data than the stage requires. The PCPD expects a copy of the identity card to wait until the offer is accepted, and its Code of Practice on Human Resource Management under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) calls for recruitment data on unsuccessful candidates to be destroyed within two years.