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Following is a question by Hon Wong Ting-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 26):
Question:
Earlier on, some intermediaries for foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) relayed to me that some Hong Kong residents sent their FDHs employed in Hong Kong to perform domestic duties in their properties on the Mainland. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has looked into the situation where employers send FDHs to perform domestic duties in their properties on the Mainland; if it has, of the details, including whether such a situation has become increasingly common; if it has not looked into the situation, the reasons for that; whether such practice of the employers is regulated under the existing legislation;
(2) whether it received, in the past three years, complaints made by FDHs for being sent by employers to perform domestic duties on the Mainland, as well as requests for assistance due to injuries at work on the Mainland; if it did, whether the authorities provided assistance to these FDHs; whether these FDHs are protected by the labour legislation of Hong Kong when they are on the Mainland; and
(3) whether it will step up its publicity and education efforts to enhance the understanding of FDHs and intermediaries for FDHs of employees' rights and benefits, the restrictions imposed on employers in assigning duties to FDHs as well as occupational safety; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the question raised by the Hon Wong Ting-kwong is as follows:
(a) Clause 3 of the Standard Employment Contract (SEC) for a domestic helper recruited from abroad provides that a foreign domestic helper (FDH) shall work and reside in the employer's residence in Hong Kong as stated in SEC. Clause 4 of SEC provides that an FDH shall only perform domestic duties in the employer's residence as set out in SEC. Moreover, the employer and FDH are required to undertake in the relevant visa application forms that FDH will reside in the employer's residence as stated in SEC and will not perform duties other than those set out therein.
If FDHs and/or employers breach their undertaking in SEC and the relevant application forms (e.g. undertaking work in places other than that set out in SEC), the Immigration Department (ImmD) will take their conduct into consideration in assessing FDH's future employment visa or extension of stay applications or the employer's future applications for employing FDHs, and may refuse such applications. Employers and/or FDHs who furnish false information in the course of an application may contravene the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115). Under the prevailing laws, a person who makes false statement to ImmD commits an offence and is liable to prosecution and, upon conviction, to a maximum fine of $150,000 and imprisonment for 14 years. Aiders and abettors will also be prosecuted.
ImmD and the Labour Department (LD) do not maintain statistics regarding FDHs being arranged to work in their employers' properties on the Mainland. Any FDH who suspects that his/her employer has contravened any contractual terms may seek assistance from LD or ImmD.
(b) As required under the contract, save for the period during which the FDH leaves Hong Kong of his/her own volition and for his/her own personal purposes, the employer has to provide free medical treatment to the FDH if the latter is ill or suffers personal injury, regardless of whether this arises out of and in the course of employment. Therefore LD has all along been advising employers to take out suitable insurance for their FDHs to cover the medical expenses in case their FDHs were ill or injured during the contractual period. In any event, like other local employees, FDHs also are equally provided with the protection accorded by the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) (EO) and the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) (ECO). An FDH may file a claim should he/she feel deprived of the benefits conferred by EO or SEC, regardless of whether he/she had accompanied the employer to go overseas during the contractual period. If there is any dispute, the case could be referred to the court for adjudication.
In the past three years (2011-2013), LD received reports of five cases by employers whose FDHs have sustained injuries outside Hong Kong during employment. Upon receipt of notification of injuries caused by accidents from employers, LD will closely follow up the relevant cases and provide prompt assistance to both employers and employees with a view to settling the cases as soon as possible.
(c) LD has all along been organising education and publicity programmes for FDHs and their employers to enhance their understanding of the relevant provisions under EO and ECO, as well as information relating to occupational safety and health. LD has also stepped up publicity and promotional efforts recently through different channels, such as distributing information packs and pamphlets at the airport and various government departments, staging information kiosks at FDHs' popular gathering places, placing advertisements in local Filipino and Indonesian newspapers, organising briefings regularly, and screening television and radio Announcement of Public Interests (API) in various local media to disseminate information on FDHs' rights and channels for seeking assistance. In parallel, LD has intensified collaboration with the consulates of major FDH exporting countries in Hong Kong by participating from time to time in briefings and social events for newly-arrived FDHs organised by the consulates. It has also appealed to the consulates concerned to assist in arranging videos on FDHs' rights to be shown before the helpers arrive in Hong Kong and distributing the information packs and pamphlets to them so as to raise FDHs' awareness of their rights as well as occupational safety and health. Moreover, the Government has established a regular liaison mechanism with the consulates of major FDH exporting countries in Hong Kong for sharing information as well as coordinating the various education and promotional efforts.
Ends/Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 16:06
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