Posted by
exeter
18 yrs ago
How would you treat compassion leave? My helper's brother died suddenly and she went back home to be with the family. I didn't discuss it before she left, and I haven't really decided how I should treat this leave. She said she didn't know how long she'd be, a week or two. I have another helper, so it's not very urgent for her to come back right away, though I think 2 weeks is excessive.
Would you pay her full salary? She has already taken 1 week paid leave a few months ago and will have 2 weeks paid leave at Christmas. I was thinking of paying for 1 week because she has never taken sick leave.
Thanks for your opinions.
Please support our advertisers:
Do you trust your helper? the reason I asked this is that, there we're some DH who used this kind of excuse to lend money from friends or employers or
they will use this excuse so that they can go home to solve their problem with their husband.
Compassion Leave, in HK you may only entitle to have a Compassion leave if your spouse, son/daughters, Grandparents/parent's in law.
Please support our advertisers:
I have some experience of this situation:
My helper's brother died and at that time I had 2 helpers, so I was able to let her go back for the funeral. She paid for her own ticket, was only away 5 days (I think, or maybe it was 7?) and on her return she gave me a photocopy of her brother's death certificate.
Please support our advertisers:
ritad
18 yrs ago
i think we must give the leave...i mean it is a death..but possible..of course get teh letter..of certificate...unless she pays for everthing herself...and you have other helpers to help you....
Please support our advertisers:
just wondering what if both helpers are sisters? I can't have both of them leave suddenly, that would leave my husband and my own job, and duties up in the air.... I don't know what to do, their mother passed away today..... any advice?
Please support our advertisers:
Katetam - personally I think it would be immmoral to prevent them from having compassionate leave - it's their mother after all! If you and your husband can't cover through working from home/vacation then you could call rent-a-mum and get someone from them. Not cheap but I've used them on a number of occasions and have always been very happy with the nannies that I've had. In terms of duties - you'll have to do those yourself or see if you can find yourself someone p-t to help whilst they are away.
Please support our advertisers:
Agree with Hetfield you can' put your own inconvenience ahead of there mother dying. If you told me I couldn't go I’d leave on the spot and notify immigration of the situation I certainly would not have my employer tell me I couldn’t go too my own mothers funeral.
I appreciate it's hard on you but at the end of the day there your kids and these women only work for you.I guess you always need a back up plan incase a helper is sick or something unexpected turns up if you can't take time off too cover for them.
Please support our advertisers:
I never said I am not allowing them to go home, just need to make a lot of adjustments. I just booked the air tickets, who pays for them? It's very expensive b/c there are no seats (the lowest class fare are all gone). It's $ 3000 HKD a ticket.
Who pays for them?
Please support our advertisers:
well you did say you couldn't let both of them go suddenly so it pretty much sounds the same i guess.
It's NOT up too you too pay for the tickets it's up too your helpers to pay there own. helping out is one thing but you pay these women to work for you so they have there own money. We all have to use our wages to support ourselves and it's no different for a DH.
Please support our advertisers:
dss
18 yrs ago
I think , 1 week's comp leave for immediate family's death is fair. But they will need to bring back a copy of the death cert.
Air tickets borne by the DH.
Please support our advertisers:
pzam
18 yrs ago
please discuss with your helpers about the ticket price before purchasing them, especially if you expect them to pay for it. they might know cheaper alternatives. HKD3000/ticket is a bit too much for them to shoulder. they need to pay for many other funeral expenses when they get home.
Please support our advertisers:
cd
18 yrs ago
It is up to the DH to pay the airfare. Yes it might be hard for them to afford, but that is a risk they are taking working away from home, A risk that we all face. I have just had to fly home for my fathers funeral, and 2 years ago for my mothers, it was extremely hard to find the money for airfares and funeral costs, but we had to, we didn't expect my husbands employers to fork out the cash.
Please support our advertisers:
There are tickets that are cheaper than $ 3000 at such late notice. CX does have a special, but only up to Manila. I have decided to pay for the tickets up to Manila roundtrip, and taxi to/from airport. I think that's enough ?
Please support our advertisers:
pzam
18 yrs ago
i think its more than generous... if you haven't paid for the tickets yet... maybe try www.cebupacificair.com Cheapest tickets should come out to around HKD 1100/person including taxes but only to Manila. They have connecting flights to some provinces too.
Otherwise, I don't think your helpers should be anything but thankful that you are covering the most expensive part of their trip.
Please support our advertisers:
Check the Employment Ordinance to see if it provides for a couple of days leave (I think it's something like 2 days and outlines the relationship of the deceased). The rest should be either annual leave or unpaid leave.
You should be careful - my helper has had her father, mother, son & daughter all in hospital, father has died, daughter almost died, her mother was dying when she left and so on....and she went home for all occasions (her father's situation just before she joined us and therefore delayed her joining date)....
Please support our advertisers:
hmm
18 yrs ago
Have any of you had a problem getting the death certificate from your helper? Mine had her Grandather pass away, we gave her four days which was tricky as we both work and my daughter is just 2. She refuses to provide us with the certificate saying that its her family not ours!( yes, we should have confirmed this before she left) We are trying to be understanding but I thought this was standard procedure. Since, we have heard a rumour ( from another helper) that she was really away with her new boyfriend. Any advice would be great, I don't have any proof... but neither does she!Honestly, I feel we are being taken advantage of
Please support our advertisers:
hmm ... we needed a death certificate from our helper to get reimbursed from the airline for a compassion fare (we were in Canada at the time). She knew in advance and as we were paying the fare, there was no problem. Did you happen to pay for the ticket home? If not, I'm not sure there's much that you can do this time but note it and see if an epidemic develops in her family (i.e. see if she starts to make a regular habit of these trips).
Please support our advertisers:
hmm
If there is nothing legally that says you have to give her time off and or pay her then maybe advise her that unless you see the death cert you are not willing to pay for days or willing to give the extra leave. then it is her decision what she does and you don't loose out if she's trying it on.
Please support our advertisers:
hmm
18 yrs ago
No, we didn't pay for the flight and were not asked to. This refusal to cooperate has been the straw that broke the camels back... there is a long history of trust issues. I am now on the look out for a new helper and will take this as a lesson learned.
Please support our advertisers:
Please support our advertisers:
You must be logged in to be able to reply.
Login now
Copy Link
Facebook
Gmail
Mail