A 52-year-old domestic helper had recently been provisionally charged with murder in connection with repeated alleged assaults on an elderly woman in her care, who later died in hospital. At a Legislative Council discussion on 14 October, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said the government saw no need to add a probation clause to the standard contract for foreign domestic helpers. The government would study the wider proposals with employers’ and workers’ interests in mind.
Legislator Hon Tommy Chung Ki-fung proposed studying a statutory probation period of two to three months in the standard employment contract. He also suggested publishing employment agencies’ early-termination rates on the Employment Agencies Thematic Website, to encourage better service through greater transparency.
The proposed foreign home care worker pilot is separate from the existing helper system, and its details have not been settled. Sun said a trial period would work both ways: a worker could also leave the employer immediately. He said the pilot would involve at most a few hundred people and would not affect the existing system, which has about 380,000 foreign domestic helpers.
Chung also proposed making return-airfare payments proportionate to length of service and limiting agency fees when an employer hires a helper again. He raised concerns about guidance on ending the contracts of sick helpers. Under the current standard contract, an employer may immediately dismiss a helper who wilfully disobeys a lawful and reasonable order, without notice or payment in lieu of notice. The employer must still pay the helper’s travel expenses back to their place of origin.