Domestic Helper finishing her contract + process moving forward?

K

ksubi

Registered User
Hi - we're in the process of hiring our first DH who is about to finish her contract with her current employer in early November.

An agency will help us to process the paperwork, and my understanding is that she doesn't need to leave HK, and it'll take around 4 weeks to process her visa.

Are we liable for her salary or expenses up until the day she starts working with us?

Also, how does annual leave accumulate, and when is she eligible to take annual leave during her 2 yr contract?

Thks!
 
of course you don't pay her salary when she isn't even working for you!

she must take her leave within the first year.
 
ps> if she is finished her contract and it will take 4 weeks for her paperwork to be processed, it might be easier just to let her go home on annual leave now instead of deferring it.
 
If you write a letter saying that you need them urgently, it can take as little as one week.

Cara is right, if they DON'T leave HK and process the paperwork here, they MUST return to the Philippines in the first 12 months. The previous employer will pay for the one way ticket from HK, you only pay for the one way ticket back. Whether they go back between contracts or whether they go while they are already employed by you, they do need to go back.

I'm not 100% sure about this... but if they go between contracts, I think you don't have to pay their wages (as they have not yet started working for you), but if they process in HK and then they go back in their first year, I think you still have to pay them when they are back in the Philippines so financially, it makes more sense for them go to back first.
 
She doesn't need to go back to the Phillipines to renew her visa, she just needs to leave HK within the first year. My helper went to Macau for the day (she paid for it herself I guess from the funds she received for a return ticket for previous employer - she didn't ask me to pay for it). Then she had her vacation leave after her 2 year contract was completed.
 
No. She is supposed to take her two weeks off within the first year. I am VERY certain of that. Told directly by immig officer when hiring/ renrwing two different helpers.

Sent from my GT-I8150 using GeoClicks Mobile
 
Carang, I don't doubt Immigration told you. I never spoke to Immigration about it, my helper seemed to know "what to do". She went to Macau a day on her day off (she didn't tell me about it until months later when we were chatting about traveling), and I know she completed a 2 year contract with me before going for a vacation back to the Phillipines for 3.5 weeks, and she definitely did not go home before coming to me from her previous employer. I'm not too sure what went on with my helper then!
 
The thing is, there is a difference between what they are "legally entitled to" and what they "can get away with". Yes, they COULD go to Macau and it wouldn't really be picked up on - but they SHOULD be entitled to go back home for 2 weeks.
 
nicolejoy said:
If you write a letter saying that you need them urgently, it can take as little as one week.
Click to expand...

unfortunately this only works sometimes, if immigration is very busy or you have an officer who is unsympathetic to the request it won't help much. not a bad idea to try but I wouldn't count on it.
 
The thing is, there is a difference between what they are "legally entitled to" and what they "can get away with". Yes, they COULD go to Macau and it wouldn't really be picked up on - but they SHOULD be entitled to go back home for 2 weeks.

The thing is, helpers at the end of their contract have already obtained their legal entitlement, i.e. they have left the ex employer with a one way ticket back home (in cash), they have been paid for their entitled vacation leave, so the way I see it is the helper prefers to be paid out for their 2 weeks off (by ex employer) and forgo their vacation leave within the first year of contract, then I don't think anything illegal is occurring if immigration allows helpers to renew their visa by traveling to Macau. It s a different story if the employer PREVENTS the helper from taking unpaid vacation leave in the first year.
 
mummymoo, while i agree with your reasoning, it is still a REQUIREMENT that they travel to their home country within the first year.

again, straight from the immig officers' mouths....
 
Carang, I agree with you entirely but it's strange that helpers can renew their visa by going to Macau. I don't know but surely it would be relatively easy to enable the visa ONLY to be renewed once the helper returns to their own country vs anywhere else electronically?

That way no one would accidentally fall foul of the law.....
 
There may be various work-arounds that people use. But the law is straightforward -- your helper must be allowed to visit home sometime during her first 12 months of employment. If there's a gap between employers, she can take this vacation before she technically starts with you. (Her employment contract starts, say, Dec 1, but she starts work in your home Dec 15, with those first two weeks as an advance holiday).

Our helper started work two summers ago (2011) when I was heavily pregnant. We made sure that she could get home for two weeks the following summer (2012), when the baby was almost a year old.

As we are planning maybe another child, I'm going to let her take her 2013 holiday early, during this Christmas, which she is happy about. I'm doing this in anticipation that I may be pregnant again by next summer, and it will be inconvenient to let her go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top