Labor | Undercover investigation reveals job agencies abuse

A  Hong Kong study conducted by students has revealed that over 70 percent of recruitment agencies in Hong Kong charge excessive fees to domestic helpers, withhold their passports or engage in other illegal practices.

A group called Students Against Fees and Exploitation (SAFE) conducted a seven-month undercover investigation in the territory and revealed its findings this week.

Seventeen students worked together with 3,000 Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers during the investigation, which examined over 100 recruitment agencies.

The study showed that the two largest groups of domestic helpers in Hong Kong do not have access to proper resting places, and are often reduced to sleeping in storage rooms, balconies and even toilets.

SAFE discovered that more than 70 percent of recruitment agencies broke the law either by overcharging clients or withholding personal documents such as passports as leverage to make them pay their debts.

“On average, the agencies that engaged in illegal practices in Hong Kong charged between HKD6,000 to HKD8,000 in placement fees,” Siya Kulkarni, a student of economics and finance from India who is aged 20, was cited in a report by the South China Morning Post as saying.

Under Hong Kong law, agencies can charge workers 10 percent of their first month’s salary. Hong Kong has set the minimum wage of these helpers at HKD4,310 per month.

As a result of these policies, some domestic workers are already eyeing on moving to counties such as Japan – which recently opened its market to this sector – Australia and New Zealand. Yet some choose to stay, hoping to raise awareness of workers’ rights.

Shiella Estrade, chairwoman of the Progressive Labour Union of Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, said “a friend of mine was trying to convince me to go to Japan, because they can get better wages, work eight hours and receive overtime. I am not going because I still believe that raising awareness of workers’ rights in Hong Kong is more important.”

Domestic workers in Macau also suffer from this kind of exploitation.

As reported by the Times, Indonesian domestic helpers complain of paying placement fees between MOP2,500 and MOP3,000 a month – totaling almost MOP24,000 for an eight-month period – while Filipino helpers reportedly fork out a one-time payment of up to MOP5,500.