Helper issues......

Helper agency fees issues. help please

Hi All,


Just when I thought that all my issues with helpers etc are over, I have been brought into yet another controversary.

My current helper has been working with us for 6 months and despite some initial issues, she has settled in well now and the kids are also happy with her.


we started getting calls from a man 2 days back and he has our cell phone number as well as the landline number. basically my helper came from phillipines and she says she paid 40k peso in there and then around 3500 hk$ here to the agent in installments. She had signed a contract, that says she will pay another 5k hk$. She has a "brother" (which I htink is a distant relative or just someone she knows) in philipines embassy who told that anything > 1 month salary is illegal in HK. so she refused to pay.


Now after all these months, this man started calling us and asking for our helper. at odd times and sometimes from a number and sometimes using a "blocked" number.

Despite explaining that we have nothing to do with this, he would still call and would ask "fire you maid or ask her to pay the money etc etc"


I spoke to my agency and told them I am very upset etc that they gave my number to this collection agent. but they say this is from their counterparts in philipines who are doing this to get the money at any cost. she is also asking me to fire my maid.


Now my maid says she does not want to pay it as she did not know when she signed the contract that paying so much to the agent is illegal. I obviously dont and cant force her. she has already taken 5000 hk$ advance pay from me for her father's treatment etc. we like her work and really really dont want to change the helper.

I am stuck in the middle. what shall I do? will reporting to the police solve the issue? can I get the incoming calls blocked? but theu number does not display and a lot of my relatives call from overseas and their numbers also dont show up. Please offer some suggestions. I am very upset :(


How does it work with the agency fees? if a helper comes here from philipines and needs to pay 3-4 months of salary to the agent for this.


If she leaves the job in 6 months and then find the new one herself? would she still be required to pay the 3-4 months money that she had signed for ?

I am trying to understand thesh*t I am in......

If she leaves me and finds something else in HK herself, will she be required to pay the agency fees etc?

pls help


ps: workwise she is fine and I dont want to fire her!

So, from what I understand, your helper has borrowed 40K peso's in Phils, then owes3.500 to an agent in HK, plus borrowed 5.000hkd advance pay from you to pay for her fathers treatment!!!!!.

Sound to me like she is either very stupid, or a scam artist- working with her family to get her to be dismissed, so she won't have to pay the money back.

Are you 100% sure that her father was really ill, when you advanced salary to pay for treatment? quite a few FDH's have used the sick family member excuse to get more money out of their employer, in fact some have even gone as far to lie about family members dying so that the sympathetic employer will pay the costs.

It certainly would not do any harm to report this matter to the IMM dept, and even speak to the police about the harassment you are getting, with the phone calls, mention the amounts of money involved, and the fact you are being advised by other to fire her, by 'the man phoning", and the agent.

You do not want to end up firing her, and find out her next step is to take you to a labour department tribunal stating she has not had her due wages on leaving. Ask about your rights with the legal authorities. She may have habitually left jobs after short terms to increase the amount of time she gets back home, and any pay of course.