Bringing helper to the US - Minimum wage law

N

NewMommie

New member
I was reading the requirements for bringing a domestic helper to the U.S., and it states that while the helper is in the U.S., they should receive the minimum wage applicable to the state, while also receiving full room and board from the employer and also the round trip plane ticket. For the state I was looking at, minimum wage is US$8.00 an hour, and for days longer than 8 hours, time and a half, and for hours past 12 hours in a day, double time.

My helper wants to go to the U.S. with us next time we visit (she has asked me repeatedly), but to be honest I don't think we can afford to bring her ... between the cost of the ticket and the increase in pay, that's just out of our tight budget.

Any suggestions? I feel bad ditching her in HK when she really wants to go, but I also worry that after living the good life in the US (fewer hours, quadruple the pay) she will feel resentful as well when we get back to HK and everything is adjusted back, and I don't want that either.
 
ummm... her job is NOT to go on holidays with you UNLESS YOU want her to. it's not up to her whether or not she goes with you. that is up to you. you are the employer.

just set her straight right now, say, 'i know you want to go, but it is VERY expensive and we just can't afford it.'
 
Did I understand correctly : If you take your helper to the US for a few weeks (vacation time) the US govt requires you to pay the helper minimum wage during your time there? That seems not only a bit ridiculous but also unenforcable.

We have taken our helper to many places and will take her along to UK in a few weeks. We will continue to treat her and pay her as we would normally do in HKG.

HC
 
unenforcable it might be but it's not "ridiculous" for a country to enforce it's own labour laws while you are on their soil. lot of countries have extremely bad labour conditions and no legal recourse - if someone from there were to visit hk they woudl be expected to act as per HK laws. when you are visiting / residing in country X you have to ofcourse follow the laws in country X.

that said i would agree with cara - newmommie if you do not need or do not want your helper to travel with you it's your decision. if she wants to visit US, she can do that in her annual leave or on unpaid leave. i cant imagine telling my boss that i "really want to" visit every place he/she travels to on work and specially on holiday :)
 
To me it seems ridiculous that a country would want to stick its nose into the private affairs of 2 people who have signed a private contract between them while these people happen to travel thru that country. By this logic, you are suggesting that if I take my helper to India, I can pay her much much less? Then I'll take her to Africa and pay her next to nothing. After all we are following the local labour laws.

To the OP : I would be careful of any helper that insists on going to a particular location. I would have worries about the helper taking flight as soon as you arrive at your destination. As for minimum wage, I personally would cheerfully ignore that guideline.

HC
 
The UK and most countries in Europe require you to pay domestic helpers minimum wage while there. It is a stipulation on the Euro schengen visa we just completed as we'll be taking our helper on our hols shortly.

We will give her EURO 4 per hour, mostly that will be for 8 hours per day or so. She's said she doesn't mind getting her HK wage, but actually I think it's fair that she is paid in line with their labour laws.

I'm not going to count evening babysitting into the mix though.... should even out as she won't actually be working some of the time as we'll have the kids out and about.

I agree with HC, if she's repeatedly asking to go, she might be a flight risk!
 
You could offer to send her back to her home country while you are away. If you're going to the US, I assume it's for atleast a week or two. 8m not sure about other countries, but flights to the Philippines can be quite inexpensive and I think it goes a long way with most helpers to give them a true paid vacation with their families.

We go back to the US for Christmas and so send our helper home for 2-3 weeks then and also for a long holiday in the summer. Of course, if you wanted to bring her with you, that would be a different story, but you also can avoid feeling guilty leaving her in HK (not that you should feel badly if you did!).
 
HC: the countries you are quoting do not have very good enforcable laws for domestic help (and i am from India so not being racist or anything). which is precisely the reason a lot of countries in west insist on the better pay/work conditions being follwed when you are in their jurisdiction.

what is so unbeleivable in that - you are in their land, you follow their laws !

your "private contract" is being entered in HK and not valid anywhere else. when you sponsor somebody's visa anywhere (even if vistor), some conditions are stipulated and you are supposed to follow them. why not just ask your home country's consulate instead of this forum.
 
Regarding giving your helper a ticket back to the Philippines, I would check with her first before getting her a ticket. I offerred my helper a ticket home and she said thanks but no thanks. She explained that going home means spending a lot of money to buy gifts and handing out cash to relatives so even if we gave her paid leave and a ticket home, she couldn't afford it.
 
yes, a lot of helpers actually prefer NOT to go home (why we paid for our helper's husband to come stay at our house when we went away). it seems that EVERYONE at home (1) expects to be taken out to eat (2) believes that a helper that works in hk is an ATM machine (3) expects presents from that ATM machine, to boot!

can get very expensive for them...
 
that is so true. my helper is the same... as i am buying her a trip back to Phils over Xmas in Dec 2010 (as I am going heading to the UK).... she is most delighted as she had never been back at Xmas since being in HK (> 12 years). She said she'll keep it a surprise so that everyone wouldn't be expecting gifts etc.

She however was very appreciative that we gave her extra time off and the trip home as a gift, so she's no all alone here.
 
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