At 5 months pregnant, home helper Daisy* was kicked out of her Hong Kong employer’s dwelling one evening with out warning.
Distraught and alone, the 32-year-old referred to as dwelling in Mindanao, the Philippines, crying over what had occurred to her.
“It was in the midst of the evening. I felt so scared as I used to be pregnant and I had no household or pals right here I may flip to,” Daisy recalled.
She had arrived in Hong Kong in 2023 to work for an area couple who had a seven-year-old son however fell pregnant final December after spending a vacation at dwelling.
Daisy stated her employer initially appeared to not thoughts her being pregnant, however issues took a flip for the more severe in Could when the couple tried to pressure her to conform to terminate her contract, telling her that her situation would have an effect on her housekeeping.
After she refused to stop, she was informed by her employer to pack her baggage and go away their dwelling in Causeway Bay instantly on Could 27, she stated.
Daisy’s plight was not that uncommon amongst home employees in Hong Kong who turned pregnant, based on unions, help teams and helpers, pointing to numerous difficulties the ladies confronted.
Regardless of authorized maternity protections, some pregnant helpers confronted job loss, separation from their infants or resorted to unlawful abortions as a consequence of inadequate data, they stated.
The difficulty was thrust into the general public highlight in August when police arrested 11 helpers for allegedly promoting unlawful abortion drugs or performing abortions unlawfully.
The case got here to gentle on June 2, when officers acquired a report {that a} 39-year-old helper had collapsed in her employer’s dwelling in Tin Shui Wai. Police stated a fetus, about 35cm (13.8 inches) in size with no signal of life, was found in a laundry basket beside the helper’s mattress.
Unions and teams referred to as for higher public training, help companies and a shift in societal attitudes to guard the rights and well-being of town’s about 368,000 home employees, principally girls from the Philippines and Indonesia.
“Nearly all of the migrant employees are younger and at their reproductive age,” stated Sringatin, secretary of the Indonesian Migrant Staff’ Union.
“There have to be safety of migrant employees who’ve a child or are pregnant in Hong Kong.”
Out of a job, separated from child
Like different staff in Hong Kong, a home helper is eligible for 14 consecutive weeks of paid maternity go away if she has been employed for not lower than 40 weeks instantly earlier than the beginning of her maternity go away. Helpers who’ve labored fewer weeks are entitled to unpaid maternity go away of the identical size.
They’ll entry town’s public healthcare and obtain free prenatal and postnatal check-ups, and have their child delivered in a public hospital with inexpensive charges.
Employers are usually not required to cowl their helpers’ pregnancy-related bills.
PathFinders, an NGO providing help and companies to pregnant migrant employees and their kids in Hong Kong, acquired 450 pregnancy-related inquiries from helpers in addition to employers final 12 months. The organisation provided direct help to 186 circumstances.
It acquired 410 inquiries in 2023 and 347 in 2022.
Stephanie Kwok Chi-ying, a senior case employee on the NGO, stated some pregnant helpers selected to return to their dwelling nations to provide start for causes equivalent to a extra acquainted help community and the corporate of their husbands.
There have been additionally helpers who opted to provide start in Hong Kong earlier than taking their infants again to their nations, she stated.
“The most important problem is that they’re afraid to inform their employers about their being pregnant as a result of they worry being fired in the event that they achieve this,” she stated.
Kwok stated that among the many pregnant helpers her organisation had supported final 12 months, 42 per cent of them misplaced their jobs, together with being sacked or quitting, or having contracts expire.
Some helpers have been dismissed once they returned to work after their maternity go away, she added.
As soon as dismissed, they have been required to go away Hong Kong inside two weeks, making it tough for them to discover a new employer, she added.
Retaining their being pregnant from employers additionally brought about them not to have the ability to search go away free of charge prenatal check-ups, which have been provided on weekdays whereas most helpers solely had their weekly time off on Sunday, she stated.
Kwok stated one other main barrier was discovering a spot to accommodate their new child infants if helpers selected to provide start in Hong Kong.
The live-in rule requires helpers to remain within the employer’s dwelling. However most employers have been unwilling to deal with their employees’ infants, she stated.
“Some employers didn’t have a house large enough whereas others had considerations about their liabilities if something occurred to the kids,” Kwok stated.
“If there’s actually no different resolution, the kid might have to remain in hospital, which isn’t good with the new child child and the mom being disconnected that early.”
‘Employers have considerations’
Some helpers and unions accused employers of being unhelpful to employees’ childbearing wants, ignoring their bodily situation and dismissing them illegally.
“The bulk isn’t very supportive as a result of of their thoughts, home employees actually need to work,” union chief Sringatin stated.
Edwina Antonio-Santoyo, govt director of Bethune Home, which presents shelter to migrant girls in Hong Kong, stated the refuge took in about 10 pregnant helpers yearly. Lots of them wanted a spot to remain after they misplaced their jobs, she stated.
“When their employer realized about their situation, the contracts have been often terminated,” she stated.
In Hong Kong, it’s unlawful for an employer to dismiss an worker just because she is pregnant. However Antonio-Santoyo stated it was not straightforward for helpers to hunt authorized treatments, which may drag on for months.
“It is arduous, particularly if the daddy of the infant isn’t right here and ready for them to return dwelling,” she stated.
A report launched by PathFinders in September confirmed that some employers expressed stress and uncertainty about how they’d deal with a helper’s being pregnant, with one saying that it was “not the time and place” for a helper to get pregnant whereas working in Hong Kong.
Thomas Chan Tung-fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Businesses, stated virtually all employers wouldn’t rent pregnant helpers.
He stated his company additionally wouldn’t introduce pregnant helpers or these with childbearing plans to employers.
“Employers are involved about pregnant helpers feeling bodily unwell at dwelling and are afraid of asking them to do family chores as common,” he stated.
Some helpers introduced their infants to their employers’ properties and squeezed them into the identical room the place the employers’ kids slept, he stated, including that caring for newborns additionally made them much less centered on work.
Chan stated in some circumstances, helpers and employers negotiated on the preparations, with employees agreeing to terminate their contracts as soon as pregnant and returning to work for a similar family after giving start.
When their employer realized about their situation, the contracts have been often terminated.
Extra help urged
Whereas working in Hong Kong, some helpers selected to terminate their pregnancies for numerous causes, together with monetary difficulties or the lack to lift a baby, based on help teams.
However some didn’t know the place they may search an abortion legally, whereas some inexpensive procedures have been solely provided for pregnancies of as much as 10 weeks, they stated.
Each Kwok and Sringatin stated a lack of knowledge and data about Hong Kong’s legal guidelines, maternity rights and companies may lead some helpers to resort to unlawful abortions.
Beneath the Offences towards the Individual Ordinance, any termination of being pregnant not carried out by medical practitioners or not in a chosen clinic or hospital is against the law.
Termination is just allowed inside 24 weeks of being pregnant, until it’s completely essential for saving the lady’s life.
Helpers, teams and consultants referred to as for extra help and safety for home employees with childbearing wants.
They urged the federal government to step up public training to lift consciousness of maternity rights amongst helpers and enhance their entry to associated companies by additionally providing them on Sundays, when most home employees had their time off.
Coaching for employers on how you can deal with helpers’ being pregnant must be made obligatory and provided by labour authorities, they stated.
In addition they referred to as for the live-in rule to be lifted to permit helpers to reside out with their new child infants.
Puja Kapai, an affiliate professor of the legislation college on the College of Hong Kong, stated town ought to bridge the tutorial hole and alter the mindset in the direction of helpers.
“There are attitudes which individuals imagine helpers haven’t got the best to get pregnant as a result of they’re working and that that is a part of their contractual obligation to not,” stated Kapai, who’s the convenor of the college’s Girls’s Research Analysis Centre.
She stated transitional preparations must be made out there for helpers, together with lodging and care for his or her newborns within the metropolis.
She steered turning vacant buildings into momentary boarding amenities for helpers who gave start and have been in want, so they’d a spot to remain and help one another.
Being higher knowledgeable and supported may additionally stop helpers from resorting to unlawful abortions, she stated.
Returning dwelling with child
After being kicked out by her employer, home employee Daisy was helped by an NGO and moved right into a shelter. She shared a room with a couple of dozen others sleeping on bunk beds and was provided meals.
Whereas anticipating, she filed claims with labour authorities for her unpaid wages and maternity go away funds from her employer. The claims have been settled after about two months.
She stated the misery was overwhelming. It was her first time to provide start with out household by her aspect abroad. She cried many an evening, had a psychological breakdown and wanted hospitalisation.
Daisy gave start to a boy named Joel, her fourth baby, on Sept. 1.
She returned to the Philippines with Joel on Oct. 29 to reunite along with her husband, 37, and their two sons, aged 9 and 12, and four-year-old daughter.
“I am going to spend extra time with my household in any case that occurred,” she stated. “Lastly, I might be dwelling.”
*Title modified at interviewee’s request.
Learn the article at SCMP.
