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| Chung says the FDHs were not prosecuted but have since been sacked |
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has disclosed issuing warning letters to three domestic helpers after they used their employers’ personal details without consent to secure loans from financing companies.
Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung said the three were not
prosecuted, but told to comply strictly with the law in future. They have all
been dismissed by their employers since.
Chung said the letters were sent out after the
employers complained to the PCPD. A total of 21 inquiries and complaints were
made with the privacy watchdog in the first half of the year by employers
regarding the improper use of their personal data by their helpers.
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In one of these cases, a helper borrowed from four
different financing companies, and after failing to pay off her loans, her employer
received phone calls and text messages from all four money lenders within the
same day, demanding repayment.
In two of the cases, the employers were called up four
times in a day to remind their helpers to pay up.
In another case, the employer was warned that debt
collectors would be sent to their home if the outstanding balance was not paid.
Chung said that using an employer’s personal
information for loan applications has no connection to the employment
relationship. As such, all three helpers had breached the Personal Data
(Privacy) Ordinance.
Under the Ordinance, disclosing someone else’s personal
information without consent could result in a maximum fine of up to HK$1
million and two years in prison.
The privacy watchdog reminded FDHs that they must
secure explicit consent before using their employers’ personal data, and not use
these arbitrarily.
Employers for their part are advised to carefully
review any documents presented to them by their domestic helpers before
signing.
With the stricter regulations for unsecured loans that
took effect from this month, Chung said she hopes the number of cases involving
breach of employers’ data for loan purposes would drop significantly.
