Hong Kong police and the city’s Labor Department are investigating the case of a 28-year-old Filipino domestic worker who jumped to her death from a building in Shenzhen on the mainland last month.
The Immigration Department has referred the case to police as a suspected human-trafficking offense.
According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the woman was employed by a Hong Kong couple last October and had been taken to work on the mainland about four times since then.
On July 24, a Hong Kong employment agency told the woman’s family that she had fallen from the seventh floor of a building in Shenzhen that day.
However, the woman’s sister and aunt, who are now in Hong Kong to seek the truth and to pursue compensation, said her death was suspicious.
The maid was afraid to go to the mainland because of the language barrier and inaccessibility of social networks, her 48-year-old aunt told the SCMP. She was once left in Shenzhen with a relative while the employer went on vacation. She also recently had an argument with her boss over rest and holiday arrangements.
The woman’s family said she had not been suffering from depression or personal problems.
Read: Chinese families may soon be able to hire Filipino maids
The Hong Kong Immigration Department was notified about the death by the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong, HK01.com reported. Immigration has referred the case to police for follow-up.
The police said they had no tolerance for any human-trafficking offense in Hong Kong.
According to the Labor Department, if employers make a false statement to the Immigration Department, they are liable to prosecution and could face a maximum fine of HK$150,000 (US$17,200) and imprisonment for 14 years.
Praying for justice
Praying for justice gurl
I don’t know the full story, but no reason for pinays to worry about working on mainland. I don’t buy the whole language barrier as a problem as there many filipinos working here, whether as teachers, nannies, domestic, entertainment. I have known many over the few years I’ve been here, and I don’t even speak Chinese.
Justice for kabayan sana makamit nya ang hustisya.. Khit wala na xa magkaroun mn lng ng katahimikan ang kanyang kaluluwa
Im sure this domestic helper is not worries about working in mainland china or language barrier ,,but the problem is…SHe employ here in hongkong and its illegal for her to work in china as she have a hongkong working permit not china.. but why on earth her employer take her there for what reason? thats the big question that we all dont know..
Nelia Arguelles you can work if you have got your working visa from Hk. It doesn’t matter.
Work permits , if you are working in Hong Kong and your employer and work permit is in Hong Kong, you are not allowed to work in China. Its the same thing in China, if you have a work permit in China, then you wok in Hong Kong, that is illegal. Please follow policies, we do not know what is the real issue here, and we all hope justice can be done for our kapwa Pilipino.
The poor woman. I hope her family find justice for her.
Justice for him
kung kasama nmn nya ang amo nya s mainland natural asikasuhin Nya mga ito
iniwan b xa or ibinigay kung Knino while her existing contract is with her employer
I also dont think that the language barrier is the reason why our kbbayan was afraid.maybe she think that working on china is illegal..bcoz her working permit is here in hongkong.and maybe shes afraid that something might happen to her badly in that area.i myself experience the same thing.my employers brought me in their vacation in china for only four days .but I felt unease.they made me clean the house they stayed there which is own by the popo.sometimes some hongkong families that has houses in cmchiba really took advantage of the employment/service of the domestic helper.and the stated rules in the contract most of the time the employers dont really follow.coz after all the papers of the dh’s are settled,the true interest of the employers in our service is always under the table.some dh’s can speak out and call for help but others they just chose to be quiet for the sake of their job keeping,and for their damilies back home in the philippines.
It’s not actually the language barrier that is concern but the fact that it was illegal to work in China if you are hired to work in Hong Kong. That is the real scary fact.