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| The staff were charged in Eastern court in Sai Wan Ho |
Three Filipina employment agency staff pleaded not guilty
today, May 8, at Eastern court, to separate counts of charging two domestic workers more than what is allowed by law.
The amount involved in the two cases was between $500 and
almost $2,000, whereas the legal charge should have been $452, or 10% of the then prevailing minimum wage of $4,520.
In the first case, defendant Glenda Beranda, an associate at
Bandung Enterprises, pleaded not guilty to a charge of “excessive commission”
before Magistrate Poon Siu-bunn.
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| Pindutin pra sa detalye! |
The prosecution said that between Jan 15 and Feb 15 last
year, Beranda received from job applicant Rosita Javier the sum of $1,998 as
placement fee.
Under Hong Kong laws, an employment agency
can only charge 10% of a domestic worker’s first monthly
salary as commission. This means the fee is payable only after the worker has received her
first salary.
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The worker complained to the Labour Department, which
investigated and charged Beranda. The prosecutor said he would present two
witnesses.
The prosecutor asked for a six-week break, but the defense
lawyer said the earliest date that he would be available is Aug 10. Magistrate
Poon said the case had been delayed too long, and set the trial for May 25.
Two similar charges of “excessive commission” against
defendants Juliet Balicao and Melanie Fisher, associates of Millennium
Employment Services, were consolidated by the prosecutor as they involved only
one job applicant, Maribel Madeja.
But in this case, the amount allegedly collected by the two
was only for a total of $500, a difference of just $48 compared with the $452
that they should have charged. Madeja was placed by the two between January and
February last year,
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Both defendants pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor said he would call two witnesses including
the domestic helper. The defendants said they would not present any witness.
Magistrate Poon scheduled the trial for Jun 12.
