I'm an ordinary employer, says Jacky Cheung after consulate ban
Singer Jacky Cheung Hok-yau has hit back at allegations that he hired and fired 21 Filipino maids in three years, insisting yesterday that he was an 'ordinary employer'.
Cheung said he failed to recall how many domestic helpers his family had employed and sacked over the years, saying he rehired some at the end of their contracts while others resigned on their first day after seeing there were so many stairs at his four-storey Repulse Bay home. He lives there with his wife and two daughters, aged two and seven.
Speaking from the city of Haining , in Zhejiang , the latest stop on a concert tour, Cheung said: 'I consider myself an ordinary employer. Many of my friends terminate their maids' contracts and I believe it is normal in any employment.
'An employer can fire an employee if he or she fails to perform, whilst an employee can also resign if he or she is not happy about the employer. Is there anything wrong if we fire a maid when we find out that she is not helpful?'
The Philippine consulate has put the Canto-pop star and his wife, former actress May Lo Mei-mei, on a blacklist of substandard employers and banned them from hiring maids for one year, claiming that he employed and sacked 21 helpers in three years. Domestic helpers have dubbed Cheung 'the Terminator'.