Willful Breach of Contract by Helper

We hired a filipino helper whose contracted been terminated by her ex-employer. She was introduced by our ex-helper.


We paid all the handling and processing fee fully to the employment agency.


However, 4 days later she SMS (text) us and said she decided to breach the contract.


The employment agency has refused to refund us the fee paid.


We were told by friends that this is a usual scam pulled by the helpers to extend their stay in HK for their own agenda. It is fraudulent.


We do not know her current whereabouts (probably in Macau)

What can we do in this case?

- To report to the Immigration Dept?

- To report to the Phil Consulate?

- To file for a civil claims against her?


It is so difficult to find a honest helper nowadays.

Report it to Immigration dept, and Philippines consulate. Give as many details of the helper as possible,ie a photo or Hk id number.You can tell the agency that you will take them to court if they do not return your money.

Her details are still listed in AsiaXpat, domestic helper section seeking for employer.


All potential employers please be forewarned!

Your "helper" signed a contract, thus it's a legal binding contract, so under the law she's now legally liable for either giving you one-month notice of voluntary termination, OR in lieu of that, pay YOU one-month salary ... yes, the law is fair on this aspect for both parties! So you may indeed go after her ... Definitely report her to the PH consulate & HK immigration, as well as the HK Labout Dept to prevent her mis-behavior again on another unsuspecting employer, etc.


Additionally, as others have mentioned, you should also go after that agency ... they, too, signed a legal contract to help you recruit this helper ... at a minimum they must help you to recruit a replacement (or refund you completely). I bet they would opt for the latter.


Finally, when not list the helper's name, so nobody else on this forum would fall prey to her?

@pkw888

Actually the contract is not valid until the visa is stamped through Immigration at an entry check point. You are talking about HK Labour laws which are fair, but in this case they do not apply as after this lady only signed and three days later, the contract would not even have cleared Phill. consulate as that takes about 5 working days for a contract to process before it even goes to Immigration.

As for the agency, they really ought to refund you about 80% of your fees, that would be fair.

1/ The contract has been notarized by Phil Consulate already.

Legal binding or not in this case?


2/ Already stopped the Visa processing with Immigration Dept?

We should contact them to alert them of the fraud/situation?


3/ Labour Dept said it is out of their jurisdiction and suggested legal action.


4/ Agency not willing to refund, but offered small concession if we rehire through

them again. But how can we have confidence when they don't do their due

diligence?


5/ Ex-helper and friends suggested Debt Collection Agency.

It is not the money, but we felt hurt and cheated because:


a/ we been very open and frank with her. We showed our flat, her bedroom &

bathroom, our ex-helper briefed her on her job & responsibility (relatively simple

as we have no kids, elderly, pets, garden and no cooking required), working &

sleeping hours etc


b/ We asked her many times whether her liked us as her new employer, and as

a person (since we have to live under the same roof), she said 'Yes' & 'Yes'

many times.


c/ We asked her precisely before contract signing (thus payment) whether she has

anymore doubts and whether she would change her mind later, and she said

'No' & 'No'.


d/ One of the reason we hired her because we felt pity for her:

She said she has a family to support and her visa was expiring soon!

Hon Bee, I feel your frustration and also your financial loss! With all due respect some of the other respondents, UNLESS they are bona fine licensed HK attorneys, I would take their "legal advice" with a grain of salt! Soo, full disclosure: while I am NOT an attorney, I have signed enough contracts (including employment related) to know that you do have some legal rights as soon as the contract was signed (and presumably witnessed as required) by both parties; and you may also have some rights against the agency, too.


For starters, regarding the agency: what was outlined in your agency contract? For instance, in many cases, they "guarantee" a new replacement at no/little costs within a specified period (certainly your 4 short days count). But, I surmised that in your case you probably only used the agency to administer "your own helper" and, knowingly or not, probably declined the insurance for that free replacement; in that case you are already in a weak negotiation position ... sorry, I am just the messenger! In any event, review your agency contract and take it from there.


That means your main focus should be (unlike what some others are telling you to focus own tha agency & not the helper) that you MUST defend your rights against that naughty helper instead. While you may not end up receiving any financial restitutions from her, it's the moral principles that really count ... at least you can make the effort to make it awfully difficult (and hopefully impossible) for her to ever find work within HK again.


In short, I would strongly encourage you to exercise your moral primciples and legal rights by notifying her despicable actions to: the PH Consulate; HK Immigration; and also broadcast her name on this forum ... anything less is your own admission to total defeat ... Good Luck!

Re the contract and Immigration:

Unless you have the EHEF number from Immigration after submitting your contracts and all the supporting docs, they will not know your case. If you have an EHEF number, then use that number and write a letter saying you wish to cancel your application for a visa due to the girl who treated you badly and withdrew. There are some girls unfortunately who use the system to stay in HK and even the Immigration dept. recognizes them as jumpers.

I would call out the agency and ask them why you cannot have ANY money back. I expect your fees covered air ticket (unused) Phil. mandatory insurance (also unused) so should be at least $2500!

I think you should talk to Consumer Council regarding the agent.

as long as the contract haven't done in immigration both employer and domestic helper have a right to back out.. even the contract stamp by Philippine consulate..as long as there is new visa from immigration under your contract and there is no One month notice. even your contract is in immigration but haven't release the visa the helper or you can ask the immigration to stop the processing.. unl east the new visa is already release the the helper need to give you a 1 month notice or pay the one month salary.. it is not fraud it is a right of both individuals.. seems like many employers here didn't really knows or understand the pros and cons for hiring a domestic helper..