10 April 2014 - The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong invited speakers from the Hong Kong Labour Department, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), and non-governmental organization Pathfinders to a lecture discussing the maternal rights of migrant women in Hong Kong on April 6 at the Consulate General’s premises.
Mr. CK Yim, the Workplace Consultation Promotion Division Manager of the Hong Kong Labour Department, advised the audience that for household service workers currently working for their employers, it is illegal for an employer to terminate the contract of a worker if a medical certificate has already been presented informing them about the worker’s pregnancy. In case a worker’s contract is terminated and the notice of pregnancy has not yet been given, the worker should provide said notice immediately.
If a worker has been employed for at least 40 weeks, she is entitled to maternity leave of 10 weeks, and she is required to be compensated with four-fifths her present salary. Workers working for less than 40 weeks can still avail of maternity leave, but their employer is not required to give compensation. In addition, it is also unlawful to terminate the contract of a worker during her maternity leave.
Ms. Devi Novianti, Communications Officer of the EOC, spoke on what qualifies as discrimination in the workplace while pregnant (e.g. being given a more difficult workload during the course of the pregnancy). Pregnant women can file a complaint before the EOC if they experience pregnancy-related discrimination.
To make the different cases more interactive, non-governmental organization Pathfinders staged a role playing exercise to show the audience the correct and wrong ways in handling migrant women encountering difficult choices in their pregnancies. For the past 5 years, Pathfinders has assisted more than 2,000 pregnancies, and they estimate that for the more than 300,000 household service workers in Hong Kong, 2% or 6,000 will become pregnant while employed.
The audience responded with a spirited question-and-answer segment, where they clarified inquiries such as that workers are still not allowed to stay out of their employer’s residence even when they are availing of their maternity leave and that, while it is possible to obtain a visa for a child to stay with their mother in Hong Kong, the employers do not have any obligation to support the child, and that the mother should also consider the difficulties in balancing her work and taking care of her child.
The lecture was part of the continuing education series initiated by the Philippine Consulate General to provide Filipino nationals information in the different aspects of their stay in Hong Kong. For the next lecture on April 13, 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., at the Philippine Consulate General, Hong Kong Police Senior Inspector Herman Li will discuss how to avoid being victimized by syndicated crimes. END