Letters | Hong Kong’s domestic workers must have the freedom to switch jobs – like everyone else

Readers write in about the government’s battle against ‘job-hopping’, and the city’s dentist crunch

Reading Time:2 minutes

A domestic worker walks with an elderly man in a garden in Jordan in 2022. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 11:30am, 27 Apr 2023

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification.

The Labour Department is inviting public input on proposed revisions to the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies. In the section on combating “job-hopping” among foreign domestic workers, the proposal states, “If there is evidence showing that [a foreign domestic helper] job-hops, his/her employment visa application will be refused.” Exceptions require evidence that the worker “has been abused or exploited”.

Consider the inconsistency. On the one hand, the government claims to be granting “employment visas”. On the other, it refers to these individuals as “helpers”, suggesting they have lesser entitlements than other employees.

In all other employment sectors, the government touts a laissez-faire approach, on the premise that free markets ensure the greatest good. Yet, with foreign domestic workers, it proposes limiting a fundamental freedom to pursue better opportunities.

“Job-hopping” is simply a pejorative term for what other Hong Kong employees do easily – switch jobs. Preventing this violates the United Nations-recognised human right to work in favourable conditions.

If these were Hong Kong passport holders, such a fringe suggestion would never fly. Why is it reasonable then to impose it on foreign domestic workers?

Cases of domestic worker abuse are rarely brought to justice in Hong Kong. By further increasing the burden of proof on workers, the proposal risks making abuse more clandestine. Workers will be worse off; only abusive employers will benefit.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Hong Kong’s domestic workers must have the freedom to switch jobs – like everyone else

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Readers write in about the government’s battle against ‘job-hopping’, and the city’s dentist crunch

Letters | Hong Kong’s domestic workers must have the freedom to switch jobs – like everyone else

Readers write in about the government’s battle against ‘job-hopping’, and the city’s dentist crunch