3 OFWs win refund claims vs Emry’s
Junio after the judgment
A Hong Kong court has ordered the owner of the shuttered Emry’s Employment Agency to compensate three Filipino workers, including one from Macau, who paid for jobs in the UK, and Canada,
which turned out to be non-existing.
Principal Adjudicator Anthony Chow Siu-wo on July 3 ordered Ester Ylagan trading as Mike’s Secretarial Services to pay at least $40,300 to three claimants who were able to produce pieces of evidence against the defendant.
It was unknown, however, how Ylagan would be made to compensate the claimants as she had yet to make any appearance in court, and her representative had previously said she was in the Philippines to seek medical treatment.
The amount represented the payment the claimants gave to Ylagan in exchange for jobs as caregivers in the UK, and Canada and the costs they incurred in filing their claims with the court.
Judge Chow also said the compensation would bear pre-judgment and post-judgment interests from the day the claimants filed their claims until Ylagan paid them in full.
The three claimants who were awarded compensation were Lilia Junio, who works in Macau; Lorna Decena, and Jenny Rose Pumaris.
Judge Chow noted that the three claimants presented “extremely well-prepared” pieces of evidence, including receipts, statements, and one even had a video, in a compact disc, of Ylagan telling those who gave their payments that a receipt would not be issued to avoid tax liabilities.
The three cases were among the 77 cases that were yet to be transferred to the District Court. Meanwhile, 129 cases were transferred to the District Court for trial.
Judge Chow, however, said that for the other cases, the court never acquired jurisdiction over the defendant as the court’s service of notice was returned undelivered.
In the District Court, Ylagan nor her legal representative appeared during a directions hearing held on July 7.
It was Ylagan herself who asked that the cases be transferred to the District Court instead of them being heard by the Small Claims Tribunal.
Court Registrar Ho instructed Edwina Antonio, board member of the NGO Mission for Migrant Workers which represents the domestic workers in court, to seek legal advice if there could be other recourse other than suing Ylagan in Hong Kong courts.
Registrar Ho made the comment after saying that he was aware of the difficulty of serving the notices to the defendant.
In a hearing in February, Judge Chow had told the other batch of claimants and their representative that Ylagan had submitted proof that she had engaged solicitors to represent her in the cases should they be transferred to the District Court.
Judge Chow said he understood the defendant’s wish to transfer the cases to the District Court, noting that with some 200 claims pending before the Tribunal, amounting between $5,000 and $20,000, each, the total amount involved was some $2 million.
Antonio had then said they “welcomed” the development.
Previously, Ylagan had sent a representative, who was her friend and an employee of Mike’s Secretarial Services Agency, to the cases against her at the Tribunal.
Judge Chow had scolded the representative, saying that as she had no knowledge of the cases and no way to say whether Ylagan could refund the claims, the representative would be barred from further representing Ylagan.
On Jan. 20, Ylagan was also a no-show at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts for the hearing of 21 criminal cases filed against her. Ylagan was charged with 21 counts of receiving payment other than the prescribed commission, but she sent no representative or lawyer to appear in court.
A clerk of court said they had adjourned the cases’ hearing to a later date, but did not say when. These cases were the first criminal charges filed against Ylagan who was accused of receiving commission from more than 200 Filipino domestic helpers so they could get employment in the UK, and Canada.
Emry’s was said to be the biggest provider of Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Ylagan had insisted to officials of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office that she did not intend to dupe the jobseekers and promised that she would refund the applicants. Emry’s office in World Wide House in Central has been shuttered since June 2016.