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Following is a question by Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 4):
Question:
In February this year, a woman was sentenced to six years' imprisonment after being convicted of 18 charges, including assaulting and criminally intimidating Erwiana, a foreign domestic helper (FDH) from Indonesia employed by her. During the trial, Chan's Asia Recruitment Agency (CARA), the employment agency which placed Erwiana and other FDHs with that employer, was alleged to have overcharged Erwiana for the agency fees, withheld her passport and Hong Kong identity card and, by passing her passport to her employer, facilitated her employer in sending her back to Indonesia after injuring her. It has been reported that despite these allegations, CARA is still operating with a valid licence administered by the Employment Agencies Administration (EAA). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that CARA still placed Erwiana with the aforesaid employer after two FDHs previously in her employ had left within six weeks and six months respectively, and the Court has found that the testimonies given by two employees of CARA were "measured and deliberate", serving to distance themselves from any wrongdoing, whether EAA has conducted any investigation into the professional conduct of CARA; and
(2) given that on conviction of that employer, the Labour Department has undertaken to continue to closely monitor the operation of CARA through proactive inspections and complaint investigation, of the number of such inspections made by EAA and whether EAA has received any complaint against CARA since the Labour Department made that undertaking?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by Hon Emily Lau is provided below.
The Employment Agencies Administration (EAA) of the Labour Department (LD) is responsible for enforcing Part XII of the Employment Ordinance (EO) (Cap. 57) and the Employment Agency Regulations (EAR) (Cap. 57A) to regulate employment agencies (EAs). Apart from carrying out enforcement actions including regular inspections, complaint investigations and prosecutions, EAA also regularly communicates with the industry and organises educational activities such as seminars to remind EAs to operate in compliance with the law. Since 2014/15, LD has increased its manpower to conduct more inspections to EAs each year. In 2014, LD conducted a total of 1 806 inspections to EAs, including the one involved in the case of foreign domestic helper (FDH) Erwiana. This represented a 35 per cent increase as compared to the 1 341 inspections conducted in 2013.
If EAA's attention is drawn to possible breaches of Part XII of EO and/or EAR (e.g. the EA is suspected of operating without a licence or overcharging job-seekers, etc.) during inspections or through complaints, EAA will initiate investigation promptly. Should there be sufficient evidence, the case will be referred to the Department of Justice for consideration of taking out prosecution. The Commissioner for Labour will also consider revoking or refusing to renew the licence of the law-defying EA. If an EA is found to be involved in criminal offences such as confiscating the passports of FDHs, LD will pass the information to the Police or other relevant law enforcement agencies for follow-up.
As far as Erwiana's case is concerned, EAA had investigated the EA and staff involved, sought legal advice and handled the case in accordance with the established procedures and the law. Investigation results did not reveal sufficient evidence to establish that the EA involved had contravened EO and EAR. Since Erwiana's case has come to light, LD has not received other complaints against the EA concerned.
Ends/Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:15
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