By Vir B. Lumicao
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| The Tribunal officer threw out the Filipina's claim for damages and a month's salary in lieu |
A Filipina domestic helper who was claiming around $40,000
at the Labour Tribunal against her female employer in the New Territories agreed to settle
her case on Dec. 9 for one-fifth of that amount in the face of a $45,000 counterclaim
by the employer.
But the case is not a simple employer-helper dispute, as it allegedly involves a breach of Immigration rules by the employer. The helper said she did not live with the woman in Ta Kwu Ling, N.T., but stayed and worked in the house of her son on Seymour Road, Mid-Levels.
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The helper, M.G. Abarento, 35, filed the claim against Lee Kam Tai after the employer’s son, a former district council chairman, allegedly fired her summarily on Oct 26.
The employer, in her counterclaim, charged that it was the Filipina who left the house on her own on Oct 26, just 11 months after she started her employment.
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Abarento was chasing eight items totaling $40,487 from Lee. These were $4,454.93
wages in lieu of notice; $3,883.92 arrears in wages; $188. 46 statutory holiday
pay – Chung Yeung; $737.35 annual leave; $308.66 rest day pay; $3,800 air
ticket; $100 travel and food allowance; and $27,780 in damages for her estimate of loss of
income for 6 months.
Presiding Officer Timon Shum, however, threw out the damage claim, saying his court could not deal with it. He told the helper to take it to another court.
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Lee, in turn, filed a claim for $45,434 against the helper.
These were $3,898 for wages in lieu of notice; $14,100 agency fee; $12,600
hotel quarantine; $1,700 swab test and ticket fee; $960 insurance fee; and
$12,176 representing agency fee for replacement helper.
Each party’s claim for wage in lieu of notice remained the sticking point before Shum suggested a sum of $8,252 to settle the issue once and for all. This meant that neither party would get a one month’s salary in lieu of notice from the other.
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Abarento at first insisted on a $12,706.93 claim, including wages in lieu, while the employer asked for time to discuss with her son and daughter-in-law. When the parties returned, Lee abandoned the rest of her claim and said she agreed to Shum’s proposal.
The helper, however, could not make up her mind and asked for another break. When she returned, she agreed to the $8,252 settlement.
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Shum ordered Lee to pay the amount to the court with a cash check within one week and instructed Abarento to pick up the payment after receiving an advice from the tribunal.
The helper said her concern now was to find a new employer as she has been jobless and unable to send money home since she got tangled in the dispute.
The employer, on the other hand, still has to contend with a charge that she
gave the wrong workplace address in the contract.
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