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Letters | In curbing ‘job hopping’, Hong Kong must protect domestic workers’ welfare
- Readers discuss a government proposal to deter helpers from changing employers, the problem of helper accommodation, and late-night construction noise
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“Job hopping” is seen as a legitimate way for most workers to enhance their market value, but when applied to Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers, the term has a negative connotation.
To deter the practice, the Hong Kong government has included in its recent proposal to revise the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies provisions that require the agencies to make it clear to helpers that any application to change employers within their contract period would only be approved under exceptional circumstances: if the employer leaves Hong Kong, has financial problems or dies, or if the worker has been abused.
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The proposal has again sparked discussion about the work of foreign domestic workers. Yet, instead of clarifying issues, it has muddied them.
Even without this proposal, foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong are already bound by their two-year contract for home-based household work.
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In general, workers do not easily ask to end their contract early for fear of being labelled a job-hopper. Often, when they do file such a request with their employment agency, agency staff would advise them to endure the hardship until the contract ends.
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