Hiring a DH who is still under contract with another employer

Hello,


I am hiring a full time DH for the first time,and I have a question. A few weeks ago I started putting the word out there that I was looking for a full time DH. I asked parents, and helpers themselves. I got a few of them to send their friends, but didn't really find the right person. A few days ago, a DH that I have gotten to know from the park where her kids that she takes care of and my daughter play together. She explained to me that she is currently unhappy with her current employer, and wants to break her contract. Her current employer found her through an agency, and brought her here from the Philippines. She's been with them for about a year.


My question is, can she legally break her contract?

Will she have to pay them back for the expenses of bringing her to HK from the Philippines?

Can her current employer sue me for employing her. Even though I'm not forcing her to come and work for me. Everything is up to her.

Can she break her contract and be working for me within a month to a month and a half?


Thank you in advance for your help on this.

In answer to your questions

1 She is as entitled to break her contract, as much as the employer is entitled to terminate her.

2 If she breaks her contract she will have to give her employers one months notice, and also inform immigration. Her employers will have to pay her one way air fare and expenses out of HK at the end of her time with them.

She will only have 2 weeks after the end of her contract to start processing new papers, and processing takes 6-8 weeks.

I doubt she will get extended stay in Hk unless she has really good reasons for leaving the 1st employer,she will have to go home in between contracts, and during this time she will get no pay for possibly 8 weeks.

3 I am not sure about the pay back of initial expenses of bringing her to HK, her employer may be able to deduct this, they certainly won't be happy with her.


The Dh may just be unhappy in HK, as she hasn't been here long, maybe a bit homesick!, so may be just looking for greener pastures.

There is always her employers veiw to consider, maybe she is not as good as expected, and they have to push her to do things correctly, sometimes an employer has to do this, so she meets a nice person in the park who talks to her, and thinks the grass is greener there.

I think I would be a little cautious with a DH who has been here less than a year and wants to change employers, after all you cannot speak to her employers to find out their side of the story, and her standard of work within their home,and she could do the same thing to you after you have laid out money processing her and paying her incoming fare back to HK etc.

As an employer you have to learn to be firm but fare, DH's are employees, and if you start by regarding them as friends you could have all sorts of problems in the future, you only have to read various threads on this forum to understand that.

Also they will fabricate the truth to quite often to suit themselves, and are past masters for spinning hard luck yarns.

There are a few DH's who want to leave jobs earlier than the 2 year contract, just to get more regular trips back home paid for by the employers.

Although you may feel special because this helper has approached you, please know that it is not rare for helpers to look for western employers at parks, play groups and approach ones that will speak to them as a 'friend' rather than employer and offer to work for them. In my expat group of mums and to myself, this has happened many times over.


I agree with susie1 that you won't be able to speak to her employers to verify anything about her, and all you know about her at this point in time is the half an hour-1 hour with which you have seen her at the park several times, and her hard luck story. Other than this you know nothing about her except she has not been able to finish a contract (not good) and you have to wonder if this is enough for you to base you choice upon......certainly it is not enough for me AND moreover helpers who target employers through these means are usually more saavy than your average yogi bear , and in my experience have multiple broken contracts, so I would suggest caution.

Not only are you employing without knowing very much about this person, you take upon yourself a significant liability, you will need to pay to process her papers through an agency as it is a broken contract, you will owe her for the flight from home to HK and back if she breaks the contract with you, and a month's wage if you need to terminate her for poor performance......all in all not an entirely unexpensive proposition.

One example, one of our best friends has a live out helper (yes I know its illegal and its not me employing this girl), on top of her live in helper. The liveout helper has been disciplined many times over for petty thieving from her employer, taking rolls of toilet paper, boxes of tissues, toiletries, rice, cereals, fruits despite receiving a meals allowance (why my girl friend keeps her I don't know -she can't be bothered to look for another helper). From some mum's within our group we know she has been bad mouthing our girl friend and trying to find a new employer through a play group, so be careful!

You'd probably be best to plough on with recommendations, interviewing helpers who have finished their contract ect.

Thank you so much for your helpful information. Because of the information I received here, I decided to pass on this particular helper.