Labatt Jolly orders employer watchlisted

Shatin Magistrates Courts

LABOR Attache Jalilo Dela Torre personally ordered the inclusion of a Hong Kong employer in the “watchlist” of Philippine Overseas Labor Office after she failed to pick up and employ her Filipino domestic worker.

The helper eventually ended up doing part-time work, was detained, convicted and sent back to the Philippines.

When she tried to apply again for work in HK, the Immigration Department denied her application because she had a criminal record.

“Put (the employer) on the watchlist,” Dela Torre ordered.

His order came after worker Mary Gil N., pleaded guilty on January 30 at the Sha Tin Magistrates Court to working illegally in Lai Chi Kok.

The 28-year-old worker arrived for the first time here in Hong Kong on October 13, 2018 to work for the employer, identified as “Madame Wu”, the worker’s lawyer told the court.

But Madame Wu did not fetch her at the airport and the helper was brought by her agency to Mei Foo.

When her prospective employer still did not show up, she was taken to Ma On Shan and was “told to stay in a boarding house with three other foreign domestic helpers.”

“The employer promised thrice to pick up the worker but she did not show up. She is supposed to be a stewardess but her family has five other adult members who could have fetched Mary,” said Assistant Labor Attache Antonio R. Villafuerte, who assisted the helper.

When Madame Wu and her family still did not fetch the worker, an employee from the agency “invited her to do part-time work,” Mary’s lawyer said.

She “worked reluctantly” for a local family in Lai Chi Kok and was paid $1,250, the lawyer added.

When December came and there was still no word from Madame Wu, the agency employee suggested that Mary “terminate her existing contract and sign another contract” and she agreed.

“She decided to terminate her contract and filed it with Immigration on Dec. 7,” Villafuerte said.

But when Mary tried to exit Hong Kong at Lo Wu on Dec. 13, Immigration officers stopped and questioned her for “overstaying.”

“Her cellphone was confiscated and the investigators saw there her conversation with the employer in Lai Chi Kok,” Villafuerte said.

“Natakot, nagulat at natrauma siya kaya umamin siya na nagparttime siya. Lalo siya na-grill doon,” he added.

Mary’s lawyer said she told the Immigration officers what happened to her, including working illegally in Lai Chi Kok.

She was released and told to report back to investigators. But when she did, she was detained for two days.

“She cooperated fully. She’s never been to Hong Kong before. She received only $1,250,” the lawyer said.

“To some extent, the defendant is a victim,” he added.

Magistrate Colin Wong Sze-Cheung agreed and ruled that Mary’s case was “special” since she had “come to Hong Kong with the expectation of doing domestic helper duties.”

Judge Wong sentenced her to six weeks in prison but suspended this for two years.

This means that she would not go to prison if she does not commit any crime in the next two years.

The government did not pursue overstaying charges against her after reviewing Immigration records and noting that she terminated her contract on Dec. 7, Villafuerte said

He said Mary later found an HK employer who wanted her to take care of dogs but, when she applied for a visa, her application was rejected because she already had a criminal record here in HK.