‘No work for FDHs on rest day’

Vice Consul Alex Vallespin

DOMESTIC helpers are encouraged to remind their employers that they should be given a mandatory 24-hour rest day for every period of seven days of work.

Vice Consul Alex Vallespin told Hong Kong News that the issue of continuous rest, and rest days were among those taken up during the January meeting between the officials of the Philippine Consulate and Hong Kong Labour and Immigration departments.

“No employer should require their workers to do housework before they are allowed to enjoy their rest day,” Vallespin quoted Hong Kong officials as saying.

The 24-hour period also starts from the midnight of the rest day up until the midnight of the following day.

Vallespin also said the Labour Department agreed that the rest period for Filipino domestic workers should be flexible if their duties include taking care of ailing members of the family at night.

“The Labour Department said daily rest of domestic helpers depends on their job responsibility. If the helper is taking care of a patient, then continuous rest is not applicable. Helpers who take care of patients at night should be given time to rest during daytime,” he said.

The LD also promised to step up their information campaign regarding the air passage provision included in the Standard Employment Contract (SEC) of helpers.

Vallespin said some employers have interpreted the provision as referring only to the return ticket of the helper, without paying for the baggage allowance.

“The LD recognized the ambiguity and they will make the necessary clarification in its publicity handbook. In the meantime, they will try to convey the message to employers about the baggage allowance in the return flight of the domestic helpers,” he said.

Vallespin earlier told Hong Kong News that they will bring to the Technical Working Group, a meeting among Philippine officials and Hong Kong’s Labour and Immigration officials, the issues of food allowance and rest hours of Filipino domestic workers.

The PCG official earlier said that they have sought the inclusion of food allowance to the minimum allowable wage (MAW).

“We cited the suitability and sufficiency of the food employers provide to Filipino domestic workers.

“We told them that Filipinos love to eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we heard so many stories that the food the employers provide to their domestic workers were leftovers of their wards,” Vallespin earlier said.

As for the bid of migrant domestic workers to have 11 hours of continuous rest, Vallespin said that as long as there is a valid clamor and mass support for the 11 hours of uninterrupted rest for domestic workers, they could take it up with the TWG.

On December 18, the International Migrants Day, a group of migrant workers turned over to the office of Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung a petition asking for standardized working hours, particularly “11 hours of uninterrupted rest.”

The petition, said Eman Villanueva, chair of Bayan Hong Kong and Macau, was signed by migrant workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal.

“We are asking the government to give us 11 hours of uninterrupted rest,” Villanueva said in an interview.

“So instead of defining our working hours, we are asking that the government should just ensure that we have several hours of uninterrupted rest. This is more workable because we live with our employers,” he added.