The biggest fraud from Philippine domestic helper nowadays in HKG

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Posted by Nickki Leung (41 days ago)

Beware!! this is the latest trend of those Philippine domestic helpers whom will give your family triple headaches and leave you out nowhere.

Four months ago i hired a local Philippine domestic helper whom just finished her second contract here.

I will let you be the judge with her job condition.
Basically she only needs to attend one healthy person (me) and my son (20 yrs old) whom will come back for 3 months summer holidays each yr.
She has a 80 sq.ft own quarter with her own toilet and bathroom.
Since there is no wet market around my place, 3 times a week i would drive her out for food shopping, buy her lunch at the same time.
She's 32 but moved like 60, so slow motion.
I found out she couldn't cook basic chinese food so i was the cook every night. Thought she would learn from me but she jumped every time when the oil got hot in the wok. Now, how could she cook chinese food if she's so scare of the boiling hot oil?
(OMG, Don't we need the probation period!)

Here comes the BIG SHOCK.
One day she' fired ' me.
She gave me one month notice and wanted to break the contract after working for 3 months.
REASON: She was going to work as a nanny in Toronto,Canada.
And she was so honest to tell me nowadays, all philippine domestic helpers are looking for jobs in Canada usually with the help of their friends whom already working there.

First, they must try to sign a contract with the locals so that they can submit all application form, documents to the Consulate of Canada in HKG. It only takes about 2 months or less for processing here and Ottawa will issue a one year travelling visa whilst in Manila it will take at least 8 months to process the paper and only 6 months travelling visa will issue to them. And the fee is much cheaper in HKG.

To work in Canada, they will need two years working experience as dh (they are that eager to come to HKG even for one contract,thats enough for experience), college graduate, must be married with copy of the marriage cert.
Ho,Ho, this is what they will get from Canada:
10 CN dollars per hour, 8 hours per day. No over time
work. 5 days per week. = HKD 16,000 per month.
(Our local U grad should apply for the job, much better pay, right?)
She can enjoy all medical benefits from Canadian government.
And after working there for one year,she is allow to look for another job and most of all she can apply her whole family migrate there and her children can enjoy all education benefits even to university.

Due to the labor law in HKG. We, the employers have to pay her one way ticket from Manila to HKG (most in terms of cash) another one way ticket back to Manila, the one month notice salary, travelling expenses in HKG as well as her hometown.
They got nothing to loose to sign the contract with you while waiting for the visa to be issued.
And we, all employers become the stepping stones for them.
There is no way you can find out their intention before you sign the contract, no protection whatsoever.

The worst scenario is you loose the agency fee, the compensation lumpsum even they are the one to break the contract?? the time to look for another replacement and training them all over from the beginning.

Once i was watching a documentary in Japan. They do hire Philippine and Indonesia maids for the elderly home. They will get the equal pay as local Japanes, but all of the employee must learn the language, 3 months job training course will be responsible by the agency on behalf of the Japanese government.
They MUST pass the examination by the JAPANESE GOVERNMENT before they allow to come to Tokyo / Osaka and after 6 months probation period if the working performance is not satisfy, they will be send back home and cannot apply again.
Why can't Hong Kong Government do something like this to provide a bit high quality oversea domestic helpers for us since they allow so many to come over.

How can we have confidence to take any risk to hire any of them and don't know how soon they are going to Canada?
It's a fraud since this has to be plan ahead a long time.
This can happen to every one of us.
The canadian immi.dept. even announce they do welcome all nanny, domestic helpers to work there. (Ain't they have very high jobless rate with the local people there?)
What kind of policy they are running?!

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Posted by miao miao (41 days ago)

It seems what made the OP most frustrated was the fact that her helper had signed the contract with her only for the purpose of processing her Canadian visa in HK, with no intent, from the very beginning, to form a genuine employment relationship with her.

Like others have said, though, I would not call it a fraud. I would probably consider it an unethical or unfair behavior on the job market. It's one thing to start a job with good faith, but later feel unhappy with it or find a better offer and quit (or bargain for a better deal with the current employer). It's even fine, I think, to settle for a job you don't like very much but has to do for financial or whatever reasons, with the intent to keep looking for other opportunities (we all have to do that from time to time). But in my opinion the line is crossed when you procure a job that you have no intent to do at all (and be slack at it), just in order to facilitate another plan you are carrying out. That I would consider some sort of bad faith, unless you have told the employer about your intent from the beginning. And it's one thing to have to offer better package to retain an employee who has got a deal elsewhere in the normal course; that's a normal risk all employers have to be prepared for. But it's another if you have to buy over someone who never intended to work for you but only used you as a stepping stone; that's not a reasonable risk an employer would expect when he spends all the resources to hire an employee to do a job he needs done.

It's similar to purchasing an expensive camera for use on a trip, with the intent to return it immediately afterwards, or buying a set of fancy suit for an interview planning to return it right after you are done. Not possible here in HK but perfectly doable in countries like the US. Sure you are within your customer's rights to do those kinds of things, but I would think it an abuse of your rights and dishonest. Fine if you buy a TV set and feel not like it even after a year and return it, but if you plan it before you make the purchase . . .

As Axptguy38 said, desiring to go to Canada is probably not as common as the OP thought (in her frustration), and even less common is this kind of behavior. If this type of practice really becomes widespread, some reaction can probably be expected from the employers' side. Just like some stores in the US now do not allow you to return clothes unless the tag is still on.

Posted by Nickki Leung (41 days ago)

Dear cookie09 / axptguy

I would be too happy to pay her/any DH with HGD 20,000 provided she:

does not need to take 2 and half hours EACH TIME to clean the windows
does not need to take another 2 hours to clean 3 toilets and bathroom, one of it was hers.
does not cook her own meal and consume it while i'd pass 3 times to go in the kitchen without asking whether i care for lunch.
When mistake is repeatedly pop up, the usual feedback (I am sure it happen to all of you) is "i am sorry, mum, i forgot" dear, you work for me and gets pay by me, not GOD!

ours is very simple family, not elderly, sick person/ babies /care child. she was working ono , working hrs is 8:30 to 8 cos dinner always finish at 7. Between noon to 5:30, either she sneaked back to her room to nap/talk on the cell, but please at least be alert, do not ignore answering the door when the door bell rings like fire alarm.

When started, she got a whole set of new bedsheets, blanket. Each week, i let her choose whatever fruits she liked best from the supermarket. 3 times a week, she would enjoyed the dimsum lunch together before going to wet market. I was the one to hold her tight when she broke down cos the infidelity from her husband.

I am not asking for gourmet cooking, but at least do not overcook the veggie and the meat that tasted like shoe-sole. She worked here two contracts already. I was the one to cook meals for the maid for 78 days and she should share part of her salary with me..

Now, dear cookie09/ axptguy, do you suggust i should negotiate with her and ask her to stay back? Do you think i treat her badly? Will you pay that much canadian amount to her with all the benefits?

May be i used the wrong word 'fraud', but the point is you don't get the offer from oversea overnight and it invlove a long procedure to process documents. I was stupid enough when she requested to have weekdays off during the swine-flu period, i thought she was so considerate, but the fact is Consulate of Canada only operates Monday to Thursday, from 8 to 10 . After she got her visa, she came to thank me to let her had days off on Tuesday so she could go for the interview.

Yes, it's a free world. She could break her contract any time with nothing to loose.
(I had paid her total 5k plus a Cathy Pacific one way ticket back to Manila which she didn't. She flown to Toronto from HKG )
If you got the offer, please go back to Philppine, your hometown to apply your visa, don't sign any new contract here and break it later just for your own selfish purpose. Then we got nothing to say, This is absolutely unethical, without any intergraty.
Why should we, the employer has to pay the compensation to them even they are the one to break the contract. This law is the encouragement for them to do whatever they need to do.

Posted by Nickki Leung (38 days ago)

iwilltry:
I do not called myself an angle or any name (unlike some of you people).
Yes, i have NEVER plotted to take advantages of others for my own benefits. Not once. period.
That is not the way i brought up.
By writing 'TAKEN ADVANTAGES OF OTHERS FOR YOUR BENEFIT..Ain't it obvious you
confirmed and admitted that for your own benefits , there is nothing wrong to use people, to take advantage so long you can reach your goal like in this case.

Please refer to your post--' have she not opt to leave for Canada, you would have to fired her anyways'. Of course, it's none of your business whether i would fire her. Here all i stated out were the facts of her working condition, working attitude, and what kind of family she was engaged with. Did i reflect any judgement, any criticism, regarding this? What makes you have the assumption that I would have fire her ANYWAYS.

I do not have double standard. She was new to my house, she worked slow, but i said it already given time, working attitude can be corrected, working capability can be improved should she not break the contract. In private, the friendship between us is another story. I just do not agree the way she had done in terms of getting the Canadian visa, but she is still a warm heart lady. Why is it a double standard ? Can an employer and her helper not be friends ?
I did not called her fraudster. I wrote of this trend is a fraud (like i said may be i use the wrong english word). There isn't any particular name mentioned.

When a pdh's old contract is up, under normal situation, she must go back to Philippine within 14 days if she cannot get any new employer to sign a new contract or she did not get renewal of the old contract. There is no way she can continue to stay behind .
Somehow the dh actually already got job offer from Canada, it's just the paper work & interview waiting to be done. Since she is free without any contract, why don't just go back to her homeland to get the visa done there. They have the consulate of Canada in Philippine, i am sure they do handle visa applications and should be the same standard procedure to obtain one.
So why? what's the point or purpose to sign a new contract with the local employer, bind yourself down with another 2 yrs here while actually you are secretly apply the visa and once it's been issued, you just go up to your employer and announce the contract is invalid effective from --- cos you want to break it.
Plz focus to the case, the way it's been done. It shows no respect to your signature on the contract, unethical, unprofessional.

islandhopper

The question i was asking is how much percentage the dh will take out from their pocket in lieu of one month notice? I would say the usual situation is they will work that month off but seldom a dh will pay the $3850 in cash to the employer in order to compensate for the one month notice. At least not with my case.
where else the employer usually will pay them to leave at once. is a statement stating out IN THIS INDUSTRY, be it the employer wants to break the contract for certain reason or they decided to fire the helper, usually the employer would rather pay them one more month salary to see them go immediately.
Most HKG employers (esp. local chinese ) of the pdh all knows the reason behind why to pay the extra and let them go at once. 99.9% are doing it.

A contract is a contract. Whoever wants to terminate it in between the designated time frame is still breaking up that deal. It doesn't matter one month notice or ten month notice, otherwise what do you consider after she gave the one month notice to do what?

And for your information, i do not drag around or either do i dwell on it. We still got choices like Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanker or Mainland China and some good faith pdh. The reason i spent time to post the case here is to let people know there is this trend among pdh and the tricky way how to have it done in Hong Kong instead of back in their homeland. Nothing personal like what you wrote.

dansande

Why should i be upset about philippina being a capitalist? Their ex- president already demonstrated as one of the greatest. My maid's leaves didn't make my life sour. Yes, she made a good 'business' decision, but it's before she signed the contract with me. That's why afterwards she thank me for letting her have weekday off so she could go to the consulate, she thank me for letting her stay in my place until her flt.'s ready to fly to Toronto.
Talking about capitalism, do not challenge blindly with someone you don't know their
profession. In a capitalistic city like HKG (or anywhere in the world, dirty tricks won't let you last long. It doesn't really necessary to take someone's advantage / using someone as a stepping stone to make the utmost benefits for your own self.

Posted by Nickki Leung (38 days ago)

Islandhopper

In Hong Kong there is a Government Dpt. named Labor Dept. with 24 hours hotline.
Anyone employer pay less than the standard wages to DH is breaking the law. Why don't the pdh not report to the Authority regarding getting less pay from the employer?
Who is to blame if you don't protect your own wages?
Go and report the case to the Labor Dept. If you don't voice your complain to the authority, it's your choice and plz keep your mouth shut.

We do have Mainland helpers here. They are legally got the ID and as a HKG residents.
Most of them are housewife/ temporary out of job, they may want to earn a bit money to help out the family. They speak the language,they can cook chinese meals etc, except they can't work full time, but still it's far better for some family that speak no english.

why should i be upset about Philippina being a capitalist, their ex-president already
demonstrated as one of the greatest.
This is to answer dansande's post accusing me ' being upset ......and ' if i have a problem with how capitalism works may be i don't belong to Hong Kong.
Of course, i won't be upset or SURPRISE phillippina being a capitalist, cos one of thier ex-president was such a successful capitalist. It's no surprise why not the rest can be a capitalist, why should i be upset about this?

Sorry to tell you the hd can give one month notice to the employer and work that month off. However if the hd decided to leave immediately , it's the same clause that she has to pay the $3580 to the employer. You know why? most pdh always get the 'previous month wages in hand, then quit later. Since she already got the last month payment, why they don't need to pay the one month wages in lieu to the employer as the same term?

iwilltry

You still don't get the point here. No one say it's wrong to look for a better future,
" you will be a fool if you see opportunity knock on you door and you feel its unethical to leave the first one an grab the second one."

OMG, how many times do i have to explain the problem is not on grabbing chances, seek for the better future.
The problem is the pdh has the old contract finished, before she sign the new contract with another local employer, she actually ALREADY got the job offer from
Canada, and she decided she will go for it. However, instead of processing all documents in Philippine, her origin homeland where the Consulate of Canada will do the same 'job', but may be longer , even her mind is 100% set for Canada, she still sign a new contract here ,and no need to go back Philippine within 14 days. The main thing on her mind is concentrate how to submit the paper work, how to handle the interview by the consulate to get the travelling one year visa.(6 months visa only if she did it in Philippine) visa.
(this information was given by my ex- helper after everything is done.)

It's not the second contract in HKG that she wants, it's the only way she can stay behind and have the visa done here.
Plz explain, in such a way, is it fair or ethical to the new employer?

BY the way, i am not frustrated. But i did sat down with her to talk about breaking the contract under this kind of situation. Then she told me she did not want to have it done in Philippine. It takes too long (6 to 8 months), And the ticket to fly to Toronto is expensive in Philippine. That's why she must find a HKG family here to sign the contract to prolong her stay here to get the visa.

Do you understand what the main theme i wrote this post and why someone will take it as unethical?

Why do you twisted and sidetrack my point here? Why do you always have the assumption of your own and put it into my mouth. What makes you think one month notice is sufficient for me (or any employer) to get another dh. Again, me being one self, whether i SHOULDNT need a helper immediately is not for you to say, and it's none of your business.

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