First time employer - pls help with few ?s

Hi, we are about to hire a FDH from Philippines who is still in HK and was recently terminated by previous employer 8 months into renewal contract due to employer "MAY leave HK for a period of time for personal reasons". Our questions are:


1. Under this reason, is the FDH required to return to Phils while visa is being processed? How does she get her permission to stay in HK extended?


2. If she is allowed to stay in HK while visa is processed, who is responsible for her living expenses in HK during the few weeks the visa is processing?


3. We would like her to have a medical exam prior to employing her, but I understand that we need to submit contract to immigration in order to process visa. In this case when do we ask her to do medical exam (while she is still in HK and before returnining to Phils or only after she returns to HK from Phils)? What protections do we have as employer if medical exam comes back with negative news (eg pregnancy, disease, etc) and we have already signed contract with her in order to process visa?


My main concern is that while she is in Phils for a few weeks during visa processing, she gets pregnant, comes to HK to work for us only to find out she is pregnant 2 weeks into the job. What protections do we have as employer in this situation?


Can contract be "conditional" on satisfactory medical examination?


4. Where can I find a copy of a standard employment contract? The one I see on the labor dept website is for reference only and can't be downloaded.


5. Is it standard to have the FDH take their annual leave only at the end of their 2 year service contract?


6. Any thing else we should be aware of as a first time employer?


thank you so much

1. Pretty sure she must leave since she was terminated (I keep forgetting the exact rule). You can petition the immigration department to defer her leave.


2. Technically she is since she does not work for you yet. However you can contribute.


3. You ask her to do the exam immediately, and add a proviso to the contract that she must "pass". In any case you can terminate her at any time (apart from pregnancy) so if there are problems that's normally all the protection you need.


Re: pregnancy. Your helper can get pregnant at any time. That's just a "risk" you take. If you trust the helper and she wants the job it typically works out.


4. You must go to immigration to get a copy. Or you can send the candidate.


5. There are two different concepts involved: "leave" and "vacation". Leave is between contracts. Unless it is deferred, it is taken between contracts. Vacation is different and works like vacation at any other job (days are accrued and taken at discretion etc...). It's a bit confusing because when "normal" workers say "annual leave" they mean what is legally defined here as "vacation".


6. You've made a good start on the potential legal/bureacratic pitfalls. Once past that, the important thing is to start off well and work on building a good, trusting relationship with your new helper. I'm not denying the importance of the legalities and you should certainly focus on them now, but "chemistry" issues have potentially far greater impact (positive and negative) than any legal ramifications. That is, with a good helper the legal stuff is normally not a problem. With a bad helper things will be bad regardless. There's a book on the subject called "Hiring and Managing Domestic Help" that I would recommend.

Did you manage to get to speak to the previous employer personally with regards to a reference for this prospective employee? I would try to speak to them if possible, they should still be in HK. "May leave HK" sounds a bit suspicious after 8 months into renewal, maybe there is another reason, It is worthwhile checking with the previous boss, the Dhs performance and honesty, and ability to cope with your family needs, if you have young children or babies this is very important- you need a DH with a proven track record who can deal with all needs, including first aid, and a lot of common sense.

It is normal for the terminated employee to have to go to the IMM dept within seven days of recieving notice, they will tell her how long she is allowed to stay in HK, it is usually 2 weeks.

Is the DH working notice? or has she been paid in leiu of notice, if she is working notice you may not be able to process papers till she leaves her employers home.

An Agency is needed now to process papers, and they usually take care of any medical you may require. The employment forms are not downloadable, but an agency will get them for you, there is a lot of filling in to do. Processing usually takes 4-6 weeks.

As regards your worries about her comming back from Fils pregnant, you could maybe request the medical is done when she is back in Hk with a clause written into the final signing of the contract, that it is subject to satisfactory medical results and the employee not being pregnant.

They normally do an extensive blood test, to exclude, aneamias, Std's, and pregancy etc, also they do chest x-ray, urine and stool check.

When we employed our helper, we wrote pending satifactory medical into the contract, and she was past child bearing age, but we didn't want her to be unwell due to disease she may havenot been aware of.

However if the employee got pregnant after that for any reason, she still becomes the employer responsibilty, and you are not allowed to fire her, you would be liable for all the medical expences until she delivers in HK- most of them don't want to go home to have babies, there are lots of old threads on this forum about that,

FDH's are allowed one weeks holiday for each year worked, most save it till the end of the contract.

If I were you I would read further into the rules and regs of employing an FDH, which you will find on HK IMM site, find FDH section then maybe you will understand it better.

"An Agency is needed now to process papers,"


This is nationality dependent. For Flipinas, the exception is if the helper is in HK and has ended the contract.


Re: pregnancy and other medical costs, you should get helper insurance (mandatory) that includes medical (not mandatory). It is only about 700/year.

As a first-timer there are several helpful links on the Immigration and Labour dept websites that you should follow and download the documents. I also recommend the book suggested by axpatguy38 above.

Thanks for the replies.


Regarding my first question of whether she needs to return to Phils while visa gets processed, I have confirmed from different sources that she does need to return. Does anyone know how long it will take for her visa to get processed? I have heard 2 1/2 months.


Regarding protection against pregnancy before she even starts with us (I know once she starts it is a risk we take), is it possible/legal to have contract conditional on satisfactory medical exam and no pregnancy and have her take medical exam upon her entry back to Hk? Alternatively can we have her contract only start say 2 weeks after her return to Hk, and during that time she gets a med exam. If no pass then we terminate contract before employment even starts (and just pay one month salary for termination)?

Typical processing time is 6-8 weeks.



"Alternatively can we have her contract only start say 2 weeks after her return to Hk"


Not really no. She has to enter on the DH visa, and this cannot take force until she is employed by you.

There is an exception for Filipinos so that if they are terminated because their employer leaves HK, they dont have to return to the Philippines before they start a new contract, providing they do go at some point during the first year of the new contract. It may therefore be that your helper's old employer is trying to help her out with this "might be leaving HK" story when in fact it's just been a straight termination by either them or her. I interviewed a helper who's employer was prepared to do that when in fact it just hadnt worked out between them. I would call the employer and check this out. For me, the personal (verbal) reference is really important. I find the interviews ok, but so much of whether these things work out seems to be down to personality and attitude rather than skill set. I mean, you can teach anyone to iron, but you cant change someone's disposition.


Other stuff:


When you get the forms at the Immig dept, get a couple of sets in case you screw one up.

Call the Sri Lankan consulate and ask. Alternatively a reputable agency like AsiaXpat. That way you'll know if she needs to return. Note, though, that Immigration still needs to approve deferring the leave (staying in country).


You start by signing the contract. Everything stems from that. Never heard of a letter of intent to employ.


If the process confuses you, get a good agency to help.