WARNINGS TO ALL!!!! When you hire a domestic helper

I just wanted to share with my story and hope you get smarter than I was when you hire a domestic helper:


I recently employed my male domestic helper from Sri Lanka. Before I employed him, I had no reference of his employment history because he was recommended by another domestice helper that I knew. He suddently told me he had tragedy in his familiy back home and had to go back after couple months into the employment contract. Out of sympathy, I offered to help him with his ticket home because he only the money to buy one way ticket. This is after the thousands of dollars I spent getting him to Hong Kong. I thought I liked him and he was a good hard working person and trustworthy.


It turned out that he never returned home. He just left my employment by lying about his circumtances. And few weeks later I received labour claim that I had fired him and I owed him a month in lieu of service and other food allowances AND tickets to return home!! Not to mention I was totally in shock, the most of all, I feel betrayed and terrified with myself and kept thinking how I could possibly bring this lier into my own home, live with my family and children.


While he is out in Hong Kong on the visa because he has a labour case against me, more ironically, I just saw his advertisment of looking for employment on this site, saying that the reason his is out of job because his employer had left Hong Kong for good!


I find that when you hire a domestic helper, what they claim about their employment history should only be considered 10% trueful at the most. The only reliable reference is being able to speak with their ex employer about their employment history. Even if it is true that their employer had left Hong Kong, if you cannot talk to them, then do not hire the helper. I cannot imagine anyone out there


You cannot take the chance of letting a potential lier to look after your household, live in your home with the most precious people in your life. You cannot risk any chance because you do not know what other things they are capable of doing. Most helpers come from poor countries. There are lots of oppotunities in Hong Kong to make money in different ways. Hong Kong now has many illegal workers out there and there is not much the Immigration can do about it. I am now worried what other things he is capable of doing now that he has my addresss and know where my kids go to school. Always talk to the ex employer for trueful references. Better safe than sorry.


While I feel stupid about the my situation, but I cannot imagine anyone else to repeat my mistake.

Many of the helpers on our site have reference letters BUT as when hiring any employee, make sure you contact the previous employer before you sign on the dotted line... Some DH's just like some white collar professionals have all been known to cheat on references/CV's



http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/helpers/

I totally agree that when you hire a DH, you need to talk to the former employer for reference. I know that there is someone who is a big lier and in big trouble now is being hired by an protential American employer. I feel very sorry for the protential employer that he/she will be in trouble within 1 year time. The DH will ask money for a loan about HK$ 10,000.00 and will find a chance to accuse you and bring you to the court, so she will get away with the money.


PLEASE CHECK AND NEED REFERENCES ALL THE TIME!!!! CALL THE FORMER EMPLOYER!!!

What a sad situation to be in - be kind, considerate to your DH, let them go home, and then have them turn around and file a claim against you. Okay, before anyone says anything negative, these situations may only be the minority and the majority of helpers are honest and thoughtful to their employers.


My situation with my last helper was similar to marie123. A few months into her employment here, I was told of a tragedy at home too, and asked for $10,000. Reading some other threads on this website, it seems that $10,000 is the favoured amount to be borrowed. Maybe it's a nice round number, but as I mentioned before in another thread, if we asked our bosses to borrow 3 times our salary, we'd have a definite NO as the reply. Anyway, I didn't lend the money, she went home, missed the flight back, and then called me 4 hours later to ask if I wanted her to come back. I am so sure had I said "don't bother", I'd have a claim against me now. Maybe there will be one coming around the corner, who knows for whatever reason?!


Anyway, going back to references, I got a glowing reference for this particular helper from her previous employer. I thought I'd won the mark 6 when I chose her and she wanted to work for us. References are important, but in some ways, I believe that even if a helper was brilliant with her first employer, she may change with the second. Maybe I had doormat written all over my forehead!


It's just such a shame that this common story of family members dying and being ill, and money lending has been overused to the point that some employers are now skeptical and prevents them from being compassionate and generous. For those helpers who genuinely face these situations in your two year contract, I feel bad that a) you have to go through this while you're not in your home country with your family, b) your employer may not believe you and ask for proof/documentation. Yes, how insulting. Shame on those people who have led us to believe that these are fabricated stories just to get out of a contract with some extra cash!

i am working on getting a new helper and i'm frightened by what i'm reading, especially since you don't really know if the voice on the other end of the phone is actually the helper's friend just making up things about her! how can we check for sure??