Pregnant helper not behaving - Help

W

wenliwenli

Registered User
My helper just notified me that she is four-month pregnant, and she said she has stomach pain. She wants the baby to be born in HK (the dad is not even her boyfriend!) She checked herself in the hospital, and the doctor gave her 4-day sick leave. On the diagnosis, it says non-specific abdominal pain of pregnancy. I told her she doesn't need to work on sick days, but should stay at home rest, to her benefit. She ignored my order, went to central to meet with her friends and return in 5 hrs on her sick day. I gave her a written warning.

I think a pregnant woman needs respect and special treatment, but if someone refuses even to do normal work (cleaning and cooking) on non-sick days, or lie to you, what can you do?

Help!
 
According to law you couldn't fire her. Couple of my friends ran into this kind of situation, both of them came up a mutual agreement ( a lum sum of money) and let them went back to Phillippines. One of them actually just came back and work for my friend.

I guess you should make up your mind whether you want to let her go, if so, discuss with her.

Good Luck.
 
Bear Lau, thank you for your reply. I am thinking if she offers to do basic things till her maternity, it will be reasonable. But she is asking for maternity 3 months before delivery, I don't want to offer her any money. By law, she has to stay with me till birth and her baby can't stay in our house. I don't think she wants that!
Any idea how much your friends paid?
 
if she's asking for 3 mths advanced maternity leave, it would have to be no pay leave? so is she coming back after her maternity leave? will she send the baby home to be brought up? or she wants to keep the baby in hk?

one of my friend's helper got pregnant, she paid her 3 mths salary to send her away. and had her sign an agreement stating that she resigns.
 
wwl,

One of the friend paid the ex-helper HKD10,000 plus single way ticket back to Phillippines.

The other one (whom the DH just came back) paid her 2 months salary plus ticket to go home with a promise that she can come back to work for them after she gave birth.

Just a little reminder, if you are settling the matter with money, pay the DH at the airport, don't pay her in advance !!!!!
 
Unless she wants to resign, she is expected to continue to do normal work. By this I would understand that cooking, childcare and normal cleaning is fine, but nothing too difficult (so no heavy lifting or climbing ladders to clean air-cons) or dangerous (no chemicals to inhale, and no cleaning out cat litter trays). If she doesn't want to do these things then she needs to resign, and you will need to come to some sort of arrangement financially. Basically you can't expect her to do anything you wouldn't expect to do if you were pregnant.
Maternity leave in HK is 10 weeks at 80% regular salary. If she wants 3 months off before the baby is born then you either need to come to a mutual agreement or she can take 10 weeks and then resign (giving you one month's notice).

I personally don't feel that an employer should say what an employee can or can't do on a sick day, as the sick note only considers whether that person is fit for work or not - not whether going out to meet friends is appropriate or not, but obviously your helper is being naughty, as presumably she thinks that she is un-fire-able. This is actually not true, she can still be fired for anything except her pregnancy. If she keeps being bad you might like to remind her of this.
 
Bear Lau,

Why is that that I shouldn't I give her the money early? Will she render her resignation letter without first obtaining the cash? Or should I do this at the same time?

Her contract ends early August, her due day is mid-July.
 
If I took sick leave and went about and out with my friends and got caught by the boss, I'd be in a lot of trouble with work. It's the equivalent of playing hookie or pretend sick. So, I'd give her a warning as the whole point of sick leave is to rest. If she doesn't, she won't recover and her work performance would be affected. You'll be stuck with a never ending cycle. Sounds like your DH is taking advantage of the fact that she can't get fired for being preggers. But really, she can get fired for poor performance.
 
My friend told me that was the advice given by one of our friend runs an agency. have to ask for you for the reason.
 
if she's go the money before you see her into customs at the airport, there have been a lot of cases where the DH just escapes. if you give them in advance, e.g. at home, she can take the money & disappear (if she's honest not taking anything from your home..., bu then if she's honest, she won't disappear). if you give them before the airport, she doesn't have to leave town & there's no way you'd ever find out whether she did or not.
 
But if she terminates her contract, you are not responsible for her after the release, so even if she stays on in HK, you are not responsible, right?
 
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