The Hong Kong High Court on Monday heard closing submissions in a judicial review filed by a Filipino domestic worker against the “live-in” rule for maids, with her lawyer alleging that the rule forces domestic helpers to be on call 24 hours a day.
Paul Shieh, the lawyer representing the Filipino petitioner, argued that the live-in rule should not segregate work time and rest time for employees in a way that puts them at risk of being abused, Sing Pao reported.
There are some domestic workers who do not want to live with their employers and the law should take this into consideration, Shieh told the court.
Meanwhile, the government should provide evidence and figures on the impact of lifting the rule that it uses to justify the policy, such as impacts on labor-market, housing and insurance issues.
Shieh argued earlier that the live-in rule was unconstitutional and violated the Bill of Rights. He said the legal challenge was aimed at giving domestic workers a choice on where they can live. It did not seek to force all helpers to move out of their employers’ homes.
Lawyer Benjamin Yu, arguing for the government, said domestic workers should report to the Labor Department if their employers violate their employment contract, including failure to allow a weekly 24-hour rest day. The risk of such abuses has no direct relation to the live-in rule, he told the court.
The High Court reserved judgment in the case.
Read: Legal challenge against live-in rule for domestic workers
24 hours rest day for the helper?? I dont think alot of the helper don’t get that 24 hours rest day. Coz some employers give time to the helper what time they leave in the morning and let them work first before taking the off. The helper have curfew and when they come home rhe employer again let them work before they go to bed. Is that a 24 hours rest day??? They let the helper works 6 days 24 hours a day but they can’t give 1 day 24 hours rest day to the helpers!!!!!!!!
Because of fear to tell the problem is the main reason why we are being abused,folks. We don’t express our feelings for the benefit of many,we are selfish sometimes…
musta na kaya sila
Atty. Yu, if iam your domestic helper and i will report you to the labor for violating the employment contract, im sure youre not happy and that will make tension on the employee and employer relationship that surely ends in termination of the contract. Its always a lose – lose situation on helpers part for if they complain employers tends to give them more hardtimes, if they keep silent they are exploited. Leaving out with their employers after work is their only consulation to relax properly wthout pressure from orders by their employers.
Yeah like me, I need to be on duty for 18 hours in 6 days a week, I just have 6 hours of rest in 24 hours, don’t have proper place to sleep and sometimes don’t have food to eat,. And I have only 10 hours off every Sunday and still need to work every Sunday. kind of inhumanity treatment
how can a domestic helper report to labiur when the off day usually given in Sundays or Saturdays.
laor office is closed
I just want to ask if the cctv camera is pointing in your room, is this kind of violation? Because my employer doing that to me, i dont have door in my room only curtain and only can pull down at night when i was about to sleep.
Lucky for those who have the so-called 24hr holiday. In most cases, we usually go out from the house at 7am( others, much later coz they have to prepare somethings for the employers first). Then go home before 9pm( again, for some, earlier so that they can prepare dinner). When u get to the house, d work starts again. If u don’t clean up their whole day mess, ul have to deal with it the following morning which will be more messier than s night before.
Even when u get to bed early, hu can really sleep when every one else r still up banging things and talking?
Just saying.
I agree with this sentiment
i am also forced by my employer to work when i arrived home from my day off…sometimes i worked untill 12:00 am especially if they have guest during my day off…i am scared to report this situation of mine bcz of the word "terminate"…i need my job but it’s against my will to work when i arrived home from my day off….
The due process that an employee had to face after reporting abuses of employers is the reason behind on why many maids don’t report such cases especially if they are newcomers. It takes the right of an employee to have the regular source of income and then cause financial loss on their part. Another reason is termination, everytime a helper report a case of abuse they are threatened of lossing their job.
Now, the labor depqrtment should take some steps on how to prevent such causes to happen and living out should be recommended as this will give time for the helper to rest for the next working day. Unlike when living in with the employer, their is always the risk of abuse, sleeping with the ward, tending to wards needs at night time as most employers don’t want to sleep or look after their kids at night. their reason is because they hired a helper to tend to such babysitting 24hours.
Its true..
Well said aisha! Im with you
Just to avoid some of this common problems of the helper here in hk, first takes time to read are contract before we sgn,it’s written there are rights…once we agree on what the employer put in their I think it’s our fault as well because once we sign it in there too it’s means were agree so what for we complain if the first place we already agreed to them.. second while in the interview tell them everything what u want and what u doesn’t want same as them…they some agency forcing us to answer one of the questions in their resume like "are u willing to do ur work before u leave the house and after u come back every ur off" they will force u to say yes.. there reason is he employer will hire u…so guys try to think first before u apply….
What about those who sleeps with the child and no private room….so automatically…during rest day..oblige to work…especially the child is drinking milk….at night…and dawn….stressful….like me if i got disturb in sleep it takes 2 hours before i can go back to sleep…or i dont sleep any more….just the good thing is i have the chance to sleep noon…but this is my sleeping dis order already…..
A friend of mine is new in hk and the employer ask her to work during her rest day,and she will go out at 10:00 or 11:00 a m and she will go back home at 7:00 p.m . she only got twice a month rest day and sleep at 12 midnight wake up at 5:30 a.m and she is afraid to complain and lost her job.
a lot here are being abused but just keep silent coz they are afraid of being terminated…almost all helpers here cannot enjoy the so~called 24hrs rest day as the employer still ask them to work before and after their holiday…we know it very well that its against the law but we just keep silent coz we dont want to lose our job as it takes lots of money finding new employer….so sad!
Yes of course the maid can always report the employer about such abuse..the thing is when that thing happen,the employer can always find or make reason to terminate the employee..and who can ever tell that the real reason is because the maid have complained..
That’s right. Especially those who are newcomers, who are in great debts back home before they secured the job here, they wont report such things and they just ended being abused in terms of working hours. Some i knew works until 12 midnight because their employers start eat dinner at past 9pm. Then start working the following day same time she started day before, and that’s 6am!
reporting the employers of violating the rest days of their helper also put the workers at risk being terminated as it will result for the employer to get angry at their helpers. so easy to say that helpers report to labour department when obviously helpers are afraid to lose their job