Helpers Salary

Hi , We have a helper since Sept2012 and when we confirmed her VISA and immigration purpose we agreed to pay her $ 5000,

Evetyhting was fine but now recently i am having a downtrned in my business and cannot afford to pay her $5000, i am ready to pay her the actual salary $3740 . My questions is, is their a way by which i can approach Immigration and give them my details and request them to ammend the monthly salary mentioined in the contract .

Or any other way for this , Please advise .


Thank you in advance for your time and advises.

The current legal MINIMUM pay is $3,920 and not the lower amount you indicated (which was the rate a few years ago). There is no legal way to unilaterally reduce her pay rate while your current contract is still valid ... though you could of course terminate her with one month notice and then try to rehire her again ... but presumably she wouldn't come back to work for you under such a dire circumstance! Who could fault her? Good Luck ...!

Thanks pkw, if i terminate her what will happen in case of flight tickets. she is just recently back from Phillipines and i paid for all the fares till her home town .Do i have to pay her again or not.

Yep, you must pay for her ticket home once more ... unless of course if you could possibly work out a mutually beneficial deal with her: offer her to stay on to work for you at least another month (which is totally legal, since that's the legal notice requirement anyways); then encourage her to search for a new employer during this "notice period" and presumably you will provide her with a good reference since she hasn't done anything wrong during her employment with you; and when she, hopefully, finds a new employer within this period, work out an agreement that she would simply exit to Macau and wait there a few short weeks until her new work visas gets renewed. This has two Major mutual benefits (both you, her & also her new employer): for her, she gets your full support (legal, work and reference) while searching for a new employer; for her new employer, less turn-around time & also no airfare to HK or exorbitant agency fees; and for you, no need to pay her a second trip back to the Phils ... win win for everybody involved! Caveat Emptor: it goes w/o saying that she MUST agree to this arrangement, and also that you trust her to stick with this arrangement after she has found a new employer ... Because legally she could still "change her mind" and demand that you pay her for another trip home (after she landed her new job)!! In short, don't do this unless you are trying to help her find a new employer quickly and less expensively (and secondarily, you save some money in the process). Again ... Good Luck!

Much appreciate your detailed feedback , let me check first on my part what exactly i want from her and then will try to figure out the best possible way to get things going as per what you have suggested. I also hope that this transition goes in a smooth way .

Thanks Beancurd , i know i have very limited choices and iam just waiting for the appropriate time to talk + also side by side trying to get my work back on tracks . Will do which ever bangs first