"It was as if she was robbing someone at home. The staff of the agency even took her to pack her luggage and leave. I called the police that day!" Ms. Zheng, the employer of the foreign domestic helper, recalled that on a normal Sunday at the end of January, the foreign domestic helper who was going out on vacation suddenly brought her with him. She went home and negotiated with an intermediary company employee and asked to leave early, which made her panic.
The epidemic in Hong Kong has not subsided for a long time, and the government has repeatedly announced to tighten immigration measures. Under a series of circuit breakers and no-fly orders, overseas domestic helpers are frequently blocked from coming to Hong Kong, resulting in a serious imbalance between the supply and demand of foreign domestic helpers.
In order to solve the urgent need, many employers did not hesitate to hire local foreign domestic helpers at high prices, and a group of "worker sisters" instantly doubled their worth.
Some intermediary companies even took the opportunity to profit from it, instigating domestic helpers to terminate their employment contracts early and change their employers, causing many employers to feel miserable.
After the Immigration Department cracked down, the behavior of "jumping out of work" has eased slightly, but for some foreign domestic helpers, this has caused them a lot of misery.
After walking away, he said that the new employer offered nearly 10,000 yuan and then lied and falsely accused him of paying compensation (click the map to learn more about Ms. Zheng's case) ▼▼▼
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Ms. Cheng hired a new foreign domestic helper in October last year with a monthly salary of HK$4,630, the minimum wage stipulated by law. She is mainly responsible for cleaning, taking her four-year-old grandson to school and playing in the park.
Ms. Zheng has a family of seven, but there are only three rooms in the home, so it is impossible to arrange a separate room for the foreign domestic helper, so she is arranged to sleep in a bunk bed in one of the rooms.
Ms. Cheng pointed out that foreign domestic helpers have always been taciturn and rarely conflict with herself.
Unexpectedly, the new foreign domestic helper had just been working for three months, and one day he suddenly brought an intermediary company employee to negotiate with him, asking for immediate resignation.
"She (the foreign domestic helper) didn't inform me, she just left." The two sides had not reached a consensus yet. The agency had already ordered the foreign domestic helper to pack up personal belongings and left. Ms. Zheng described the situation as "very rampant."
The agency that took away the foreign domestic helper even stated that the new employer was willing to hire the foreign domestic helper with a monthly salary of HK$9,800.
What made Ms. Cheng even more angry was that the foreign domestic helper claimed to take care of cancer patients during the negotiation, which was different from the original agreement that she only needed to take care of children.
Ms. Zheng explained that she had cancer before, but after treatment, her health was no longer in serious condition, and she did not need to be taken care of by a foreign domestic helper.
In the face of the sudden accusation, Ms. Zheng directly criticized the illogicality, but both sides insisted on their own words. In desperation, Ms. Zheng had to call the police.
According to the "Standard Employment Contract", both the employer and the FDH have the right to terminate the contract, subject to not less than one month's written notice, or pay one month's wages to the other party.
Ms. Zheng said that the foreign domestic helper did not give notice of resignation in advance, and according to the regulations, she should have paid back one month's salary to the employer as compensation. Airfare costs, she refused.
Unexpectedly, Ms. Cheng later received a call from the Labour Department, and the prescription stated that the foreign domestic helper complained that she violated the employment regulations. The other party insisted that she had notified her of her intention to terminate the contract in advance.
The matter is currently being followed up by the Labour Department, and judicial proceedings may be initiated.
Ms. Cheng inferred that it was the intermediary company that lured the foreign domestic helper to change jobs and instigated her to lie and make false accusations at the Labour Department.
After a series of farces, Ms. Zheng reluctantly said that she would not dare to hire a foreign domestic helper in the short term, worried that the foreign domestic helper would be taken away again: "Together with the agency fee and insurance fee, she spent a total of more than 10,000 yuan to invite her back and do a few Yue resigned again, am I training workers for others?”
Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are in short supply and intermediaries take advantage of the opportunity to profit
The foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong mainly come from the Philippines and Indonesia. Due to the severe global epidemic, the Hong Kong government has repeatedly extended the "circuit breaker" arrangement for regional flights, and these two countries are also affected.
In addition, the long-term shortage of quarantine hotels in Hong Kong has resulted in the inability of a large number of overseas domestic helpers to come to Hong Kong, and the cost for employers to hire overseas domestic helpers has greatly increased.
According to data provided by Xu Xiaotong, the convener of the Foreign Domestic Helper Employers Concern Group, the cost of hiring overseas Filipino domestic helpers in February this year, including agency fees, testing and quarantine hotel fees, increased to between 26,000 and 30,000 yuan, compared with about 12,000 before the epidemic. The employment cost of up to $15,000 will undoubtedly increase the burden on employers now.
Therefore, Xu Xiaotong pointed out that most employers would rather hire a local foreign domestic helper with a high salary to complete the contract than beckon to an overseas domestic helper.
This not only saves huge costs such as isolation and testing, but also avoids the risk of foreign domestic helpers being unable to go to work as scheduled due to infection or flight cancellations.
Employers are scrambling to hire foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong, resulting in a worsening shortage of local foreign domestic helpers.
In view of the sharp increase in market demand, the Immigration Department exercised its discretion over foreign domestic helpers who have completed their contracts, and allowed them to apply for an extension of stay of not more than one month as visitors after the contract expires or early termination, allowing them to take advantage of this period of time. Find a new employer.
Xu Xiaotong pointed out that this was a well-intentioned move, but it was expected to encourage the frequent "job-hopping" behavior of foreign domestic helpers.
Liao Chuilan, Chairman of the Hong Kong Human Resource Agency Association and Managing Director of Decheng Employment Center, pointed out that some agency companies will indeed instigate foreign domestic helpers to take the opportunity to terminate their contracts and find new employers. "Many agency companies teach foreign domestic helpers how to slander their employers. She." Liao Cuilan pointed out that some intermediary companies will urge foreign domestic helpers who are about to expire their contracts not to renew their contracts with their original employers, and will induce foreign domestic helpers to find new employers with a bonus of 4,000 yuan.
In this way, the intermediary company is equivalent to doing two businesses: "helping foreign domestic helpers to find new employers can make a profit, and helping old employers to find new foreign domestic helpers can also make profits."
Foreign domestic helpers frequently skip work and the Immigration Department's response to the crackdown
According to statistics from the Immigration Department, in 2020, a total of 29,811 applications for FDHs to extend their stay in Hong Kong as visitors after their contracts expired or were terminated early were received, of which more than 95% of the applications were approved.
However, since the Immigration Department cancelled the arrangement to extend the stay of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong at the end of that year, the number of applications dropped by 65% immediately, and the problem of early termination of contracts for foreign domestic helpers has improved.
In 2021, the Immigration Department received a total of 10,590 applications, of which only about half were approved.
The number of foreign domestic helpers' early termination of contracts has been greatly reduced, but the Immigration Department's review of each application is more rigorous than before.
In response to the enquiry, the Immigration Department pointed out that before the prescription cancelled the extension of stay arrangement, between 2019 and 2020, there were 1,709 and 1,776 cases of FDHs being investigated for suspected “job skipping” respectively; among them, only 267 visa applications were rejected. and 319 cases.
By 2021, after the extension of stay arrangement was cancelled and prescriptions stepped up efforts to crack down on "job skipping", the number of cases under investigation of foreign domestic helpers suspected of "job skipping" increased significantly to 5,844, and the number of visa application refusals also increased significantly. to 2,833 cases.
Homelessness amid pandemic
Despite this, under the severe crackdown by the Immigration Department, some foreign domestic helpers are worried that if they terminate the contract early, they will not be granted a new work visa.
Angeline, a Filipino maid who has worked in Hong Kong for more than four years, was refused a visa by the Immigration Department in early January this year, accused of "jumping work".
Angeline's former employer not only made her sleep in the basement of the laundry room, but also did not provide enough food for a long time, causing her to lose 13 kilograms in three months.
Facing all kinds of exploitation by her employer, Angeline chose to terminate her contract with her employer early last November after three months of employment, and she also successfully found a new employer.
Unexpectedly, when she applied for a new work visa to the Immigration Department, she was rejected.
Even though Angeline appealed to the Immigration Department three times and provided the video of sleeping in the basement of the laundry room as evidence of being exploited by her employer, she was still not accepted and must leave Hong Kong on or before the visa expiry date (February 17).
Just when Angeline was planning to return to her hometown, she was tested positive for the new crown virus. Angeline must be isolated at home according to regulations, but because she was unable to return to her former employer's home, she could only sleep in the park in the end.
Immigration Department overdos it and kills the wrong people
Jec, director of the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers' Unions, said that including Angeline, foreign domestic helpers who were accused of "jumping" by the Immigration Department and refused visas have received five requests for help in the first two months of this year.
She pointed out that the Immigration Department's policy of cracking down on "job-hopping" of foreign domestic helpers is inherently unfair to the foreign domestic helpers.
Under this system, it is difficult for foreign domestic helpers to terminate their contracts early even if they are treated unreasonably.
Jec also pointed out that the government's lack of transparency in the definition of "job skipping" made them at a loss: "Angeline served her first employer for 4 years. If two or three early terminations within a year are work skipping, then termination is once. It should be acceptable, but the prescription is still refused.” In addition, the Immigration Department generally does not ask the reason for the FDH’s early termination of the contract when handling complaint cases: “If they accuse you of ‘jumping work’, then your The job is over, and you have to go back to your country.” She also explained that foreign domestic helpers are mostly terminated early for three reasons, including abuse by their employers, poor living conditions, and not having enough food: “These are the main reasons for most families The reason why the helper can't continue to perform the contract." "If they accuse you of 'jumping work', then your job in Hong Kong is over and you have to go back to your country."
Raith, president of the United Domestic Workers Union, also said that from May last year to January this year, the union received a total of 11 cases of foreign domestic helpers accused of "jumping" by the Immigration Department and ordered to return to their place of origin.
She pointed out that in some of these cases, the contract was unilaterally terminated by the employer without clear and reasonable reasons. However, after finding a new employer, the Immigration Department refused to apply for a new work visa.
Raith believes that the mechanism is unfair to foreign domestic helpers, who are in a passive role and have no right to know and defend themselves, and are unilaterally stifled by their workplace in Hong Kong.
She suggested that foreign domestic helpers do both to protect themselves. If they are treated unreasonably by their employers, they should write down on paper and leave evidence so that they can attach the proof when applying for a visa in the future.
No-fly order lifted | The circuit breaker mechanism affects foreign domestic helpers who come to Hong Kong Liang Xi advocates following the example of Sin Chew to isolate Japanese mothers before coming to Hong Kong. After her life is exposed, she still has to wash the toilet and feed her BB, cook and bury rice, and let her sister eat. Save money, don’t ask workers’ children to grow up, be more confident, learn more, foreign domestic helpers frequently skip work or make serious mistakes, write a complaint letter, follow up at the immigration department Wife: Should you forgive me? On the first day of the cancellation of the ban
[This article was reprinted with permission from University Line, an internship publication of the School of Journalism and Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The original text: Who is more panic among employers and foreign domestic helpers?
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