The new pneumonia epidemic, Hong Kong people hiring foreign domestic helpers in addition to pay the agency fees, but also need to pay the virus testing and hotel isolation costs. In contrast, the cost of hiring foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong is less, but Hong Kong foreign domestic helpers are not enough, some of them even broke the contract in the middle of “firing the boss sack” to skip work. Some Members held a press conference today (11), saying that the problem of “job-hopping” is getting more and more serious, suggesting that the Immigration Department should pay attention to the “job-hopping” records of FDHs when approving their applications for extension of stay in Hong Kong, so as to do a good job of gate-keeping. The Department of Immigration replied that its special duty team has stepped up its scrutiny of work visa applications for this purpose.
Dr. Priscilla Leung pointed out that employers want to hire FDHs from overseas under the epidemic, the agency fee is about HK$12,000, plus the cost of virus testing and hotel isolation is about HK$8,000, a total of about HK$20,000, which is a huge expense for the average family. Employers who want to save money or want their FDHs to work as early as possible will hire FDHs who are already in Hong Kong instead. In Hong Kong, the supply of FDHs does not meet the demand, creating the incentive for FDHs to “skip work” to change employers, which may cause employers to suffer losses.
In March this year, in response to the development of the epidemic, the Hong Kong government extended the stay of departing FDHs in Hong Kong, allowing them to stay in Hong Kong as visitors. Leung cited government figures, from April to July this year, the number of applications to extend the stay of FDHs as visitors rose from 660 in January to March this year to 3,200, an increase of more than 3.8 times; the average monthly number of applications from FDHs to change employers also rose from 2,500 to 2,900. She estimated that there are about 400,000 FDHs in Hong Kong and the problem of “job-hopping” will worsen from early next year, calling on the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the Immigration Department to step up monitoring.
Leung suggested that the Immigration Department should strengthen the vetting of FDHs who have repeatedly ended their contracts early and “skipped work”, and should strengthen the liaison with the consulates of the Philippines and Indonesia to confirm that FDHs return to their countries of origin after the termination of their contracts, so as to reduce the situation of “skipping work”. The Chairman of the Hong Kong Employment Agencies Association (HKEA), Liz Lau, suggested that the government should allocate more resources to enhance the standard of the industry, and also organize briefing sessions for employers and FDHs to remind them to respect the spirit of the contract and call on FDHs not to “skip jobs”.
The FDH was hired by Mrs. Cheng, who has a son, in August this year, and started working in October. After discussing with her family, Mrs. Cheng did not ask for compensation from the FDH and bought her an air ticket to return to China. In this month, the agency fee, the FDH’s salary and the air ticket cost together, Mrs. Cheng spent more than HK$20,000, and the FDH only fulfilled the contract for one month, so she lost her budget.
Later, Mrs. Cheng found out in some FDH employers’ groups that there were several cases similar to her situation, which made her suspect that the FDH was just a pretext to “skip work”. Mrs. Cheng said frankly that there is no way to confirm her doubts, and the ImmD only set up a hotline for FDHs to seek help, but employers have no way to seek help, I hope the authorities are aware of the situation and try to support employers.
The ImmD replied that it has been strictly approving the work visa applications of FDHs. To combat “job hopping”, the Department’s Special Duties Team has stepped up its scrutiny of work visa applications by examining in detail the applicant’s circumstances, including the number of times and reasons for early termination of employment contracts within a 12-month period. If individual FDHs are suspected of abusing the measure of “job-hopping”, the Department may reject the applications and ask them to leave Hong Kong.
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