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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Chiang Lai-wan and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (July 3):
Question :
In the first four months of this year, the Consumer Council received 122 complaints in relation to intermediaries for foreign domestic helpers (FDHs), which is a sharp increase of 60% from the 75 cases for the same period last year. The subject of the complaints included overcharging of fees, the services provided not meeting the descriptions of the intermediaries, and FDHs employing various tactics to make the employers terminate the employment contracts with them. Some employers have indicated that since the Philippine Government has, in recent years, prohibited the collection of placement fees by intermediaries in the Philippines from domestic helpers working overseas, such fees have been passed on to the employers in Hong Kong, some of them have therefore hired Indonesian domestic helpers instead. However, prior to their coming to Hong Kong, such helpers usually have to sign loan documents with the intermediaries in Indonesia and then repay the loans with their wages by instalments after arriving in Hong Kong. Some employers have suspected that, for the purpose of early settlement of loans, the newly employed FDHs have deliberately displayed bad attitude to make their employers terminate the employment contracts with them, so that they can get one month's wages in lieu of notice and free passages to return to their places of domicile. However, they return to work in Hong Kong again after merely departing for Macao once, without actually returning to their places of domicile. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that the Government may allow a FDH to change employer without having to return to the place of domicile under some special circumstances such as the employer being unable to continue with the contract because of migration, death or financial difficulty, or there is evidence that the FDH has been abused, of the following figures in the past three years: the number of such cases approved, the respective numbers of FDHs who had not completed the two-year contracts and had returned to their places of domicile as well as those who had returned to work in Hong Kong after departing for Macao, and the number of FDHs whose employment contracts had been prematurely terminated and the percentage of such number in the total number of FDHs;
(b) given that the authorities have stipulated that employers have to give FDHs free passages to return to their places of domicile upon termination of employment contracts, what measures the authorities have in place to ensure that the FDHs whose contracts have been terminated with free return passages provided actually return to their places of domicile; in cases where the FDHs return to work in Hong Kong again after departing for Macao once without actually returning to their places of domicile, whether the authorities will require the FDHs to refund their previous employers the passages for returning to their places of domicile; if not, whether the Government will consider revising the existing requirements to do justice to the employers; and
(c) whether the authorities will consider introducing FDHs from other regions to increase the supply of FDHs and to alleviate the employers' pressure arising from the need to pay expensive intermediary charges; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My response to the Dr Hon Chiang's enquiry is set out below:
(a) In the past three years, the Immigration Department (ImmD) approved a total of 20 173 applications from foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) for change of employers in Hong Kong after premature termination of their contracts under some special circumstances. Of these, 7 049 cases were approved in 2010, 6 560 in 2011 and 6 564 in 2012.
ImmD does not maintain statistics concerning the numbers of FDHs who had not completed the two-year contract and had returned to their places of domicile as well as those who had returned to work in Hong Kong after departing for Macao, and the number of FDHs whose employment contracts had been prematurely terminated and the percentage of such number in the total number of FDHs.
(b) In accordance with Clause 7 of the Standard Employment Contract (the Contract) for employing FDHs, employers have to provide their FDH with free passage from Hong Kong to his/her place of original on termination or expiry of the contract. The rationale behind this requirement is that as it is the employers who hire FDHs to work in Hong Kong, they have the responsibility for ensuring the FDH's smooth return to his/her home country upon the completion or pre-mature termination of the contract by paying for the passages to the FDH's place of domicile. Otherwise, the FDH concerned may be stranded in Hong Kong owing to the lack of means to travel. The same requirement also applies to other employers who hire foreign workers from overseas to work in Hong Kong under other importation of labour schemes (e.g. the Supplementary Labour Scheme). The Administration has no plan to change the policy.
ImmD has all along been assessing FDHs' employment visa applications in a serious manner. In assessing the employment visa application of an FDH to work for another employer after termination or expiry of contract, ImmD will conduct a movement record check to ensure that the FDH has been out of Hong Kong before the new visa is issued. If the applicant is suspected to have any adverse records or breaches, including abuse of the employment arrangement for FDHs, ImmD will consider refusing the application based on individual circumstances. ImmD has already strengthened the assessment of suspected abuse of contract termination arrangement by FDHs, such as examining the frequency and reasons of contract termination. Future applications for employment visa will be refused if the abuse is substantiated.
(c) The existing entry arrangement for FDHs is applicable to applicants from most countries and regions. Owing to immigration and security considerations, the current arrangement does not apply to residents of the Mainland, Macao SAR and Taiwan as well as nationals from a few countries including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, Laos, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nepal and Vietnam.
The Administration will regularly review the immigration policies, including those for importation of FDHs, to ensure that such policies suit the actual circumstances and needs of Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:53
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