Posted by
geiboyi
18 yrs ago
Hmmm, to me this sounds a tiny bit fishy. If she is a HK resident with ID card (she should be) then she can get low cost medical treatment through the government system here (which you should pay for, but it's the standard rate of about $100 a day, or something). Is she going back for treatment or for a rest? I think if it is just to take a rest then no, you should not be paying her. Perhaps, if she is a good helper and you like her, you might consider paying her a 'retainer' of a few hundred dollars - enough to cover her living expenses. Really, if she is too sick to work and needs sick leave, then she should stay in HK and you need to pay her 4/5 of her salary. If this is the case (if she can get a doctor to certify that she is not fit to work) then of course you may prefer to send her back for while so you can have a replacement, in which case you will need to come up with a financial arrangement. Tough call.
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Do you know anyone (not connected to your helper) who could give you an idea of what a month's living expenses would be in The Philippines? Someone on this website will be able to, I'm sure. Do you know what her financial commitments are? Is she paying for her children's education, for example? Or just sending money home to a layabout husband (speaking from experience, here)? You wouldn't want this month to put her into debt (might cause you more problems later), but equally (and I don't want to sound horribly cynical here) you don't want her getting ideas about what you are willing to put up with (I would love to go back to the UK for a paid holiday, and would happily undergo a small procedure - maybe get my fillings replaced - if my employer would pay half the airfare plus my salary). A lot depends on if the money is a big issue for you or not, but remember if you've done this kind of thing once you will feel obliged to if a sililar situation occurs again.
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pzam
18 yrs ago
I think that because you will be spending on her replacement for 1 month that you shouldn't be obliged to pay for her whole salary for that month. You are already generously offering to pay half of her air ticket. Most employees are allowed a certain number of paid sick leave a year and if they go over that, then they don't get paid. You can give her a bonus for when she comes back and if you are still happy with her performance. Please be clear to her on what you plan to do (except about a possible bonus) so she knows what to expect, and there are no hard feelings as work will definitely suffer then.
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On living expenses in the Philippines...
Funnily enough I was looking at the Philippines statistics at work yesterday. For the most recent available year, average annual expenditure per household was Pesos 123,690 per year, and average household size was 4.85 people. So 123,690/4.85=Pesos25,503 per person per year or 2,125 Pesos per month.
Converting into HKD, it comes to about HKD325 per person per month.
I was quite surprised it was so high, as I know the majority of the Philippines lives on less that one USD per day (so HKD235 per month). I guess the average must be skewed upwards by high earning professionals in Metro Manila and Cebu.
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2006/ie03frtx.html
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So, from that I would probably offer her $500 - 1000 (only if she's really good...), and her job back on normal terms when she returns. Actually HK$325 a month may be the average, but I suspect that doesn't provide a very good standard of living - hence the need for women to come here to work.
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If you take sickleave from work do you not get paid? I think a doctors' certificate should suffice.
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Yes, that's what I said - but we don't know here whether she has a certificate or not. I suspect that a doctor would not give her a month of sick leave. If she is choosing to have a month of recuperation with her family, than this is a different matter.
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So, excuse me here, you've decided not to pay her sick leave? I mean half the airfare would be about $600.
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But there's sick leave and there's 'taking a rest'. For me, if a doctor gives me a certificate stating I am not fit for work, then I get sick pay (and getting these notes for more than one day is like getting blood out of a stone). If I want some extra time off then I can ask for unpaid leave, which I probably would not get from my boss. I think being allowed to take a month off, with a job to come back to is not a bad deal.
Remember, this is a possible operation, not a definite one, and medical treatment is available in HK (which the helper is not required to pay for) - seems she has made this choice.
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Then surely she should be paid for them time she gets a sick leave note. Not all the time. Just the time she gets a sick leave note.
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I think what you suggested to her seems fair. Does she seem happy with it? She is a new heler, you say, so really, I think you're treating her reasonably.
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No, Miss P
Not the op costs. She can get it done here for much less. That is one of the great perks of Hong Kong.
Just the sick leave, as any company would pay their employee.
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Wait, wait, let me rephrase that. I don't think you HAVE to pay the op costs, but if you want to, and can afford to, good on ya.
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Miss P,
I think you need to take a step back from your human concern for this lady: you're in imminent danger of crossing the line between generous employer and sucker.
I mean that in the nicest possible way, as your heart is obviously in the right place and I certainly wouldn't want to offend you.
I don't think even the most generous corporation in HK would pay substantial costs for unskilled employees to have surgery in a Third World hospital when that same treatment is available (virtually) free of charge in HK.
I would also be suspicious of her reasons for choosing to have what seems like a fairly complex operation carried out in a country with only one credible hospital (Makati Medical Centre, which charges international prices and is not somewhere any DH would contemplate going).
PS. Receipts in the Philippines are not always a reliable indicator of costs incurred. And doctors in the Phils might be much more generous in giving her future sicknotes for many days (weeks, months...) than doctors in HK would be. Once she is in the Phils, you will not realistically be able to force her to see a doctor of your choosing to verify the necesssity of sick leave .... in exactly the same way that your employer or mine would insist on us seeing a doctor appointed by the company if you or I were away from work for more than a couple of weeks.
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Yes, good points Burgundy. My problem is suckerhood *grin*.
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