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| Some of those fired in HK had insisted on taking their day off |
Around 30 domestic workers have lost their jobs in recent
days due to the scare gripping Hong Kong over
the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare
Office.
The termination cases reported to the Philippine Overseas
Labor Office/OWWA are apart from the sacking of some of those stranded in the Philippines due to the travel ban to Hong Kong imposed on Feb. 2.
According to Dolores Balladares of United Filipinos in Hong
Kong, her group has received three reports of migrant workers being terminated
because they were unable to report back to work in Hong
Kong as agreed upon. Another group, the Domestic Workers Corner,
has received two such reports although the circumstances are unclear.
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OWWA welfare officer Marivic C. Clarin said the dismissals
in Hong Kong reflected employers’ paranoia over the Covid-19 infection that has
spread to the city from China
Most of the contract terminations reportedly stemmed from
employers relocating to China ,
Australia , Britain and the United
States out of fear of the contagion that had infected 58 Hong Kong people as of Monday afternoon.
But Clarin said another cause of the terminations was due to
workers insisting on taking a day off, despite a Labour Department advice for
them to stay at home as the authorities battle to control the spread of
Covid-19.
She said in some cases, the workers took their day off
against the wishes of the employers and were dismissed as soon as they returned
home. In most cases, the worker just wanted to send money home.
In one case, the worker was just asking permission to take
her rest day when she was fired, Clarin said.
“Praning ang employers because of the virus,” Clarin said.
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| Clarin says some of the firings were due to the employers being unusually scared of the virus |
One other reason she cited is that the employers had lost
their jobs, too, and were staying home so they had no more need for the
helpers.
Clarin could not immediately give a breakdown of the number
of terminations because OWWA is still reportedly compiling cases passed on by
the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
When asked about what possible steps a worker can do if she
was dismissed for insisting on taking a day off, Clarin said the Labour
Department did not mention any action against employers in these cases.
But she suggested the workers can take their case to the
Labour Department as there has been no test case yet involving a dispute
arising from the “stay-home” advisory.
As for the relocation-related terminations, the employers declared
they were moving to other places so they had to dismiss their workers, Clarin
said.
One male driver was dismissed on the spot by his employer
last Saturday because the employer and his daughter were moving to Australia
But the employer refused to give him a release letter, which
the driver could show to Immigration so he would be allowed to look for a new
employer and resume working without having to go home, Clarin said.
In many of the relocation-related dismissals, she said the
employers refused to issue release papers because they were just relocating
temporarily due to the virus and planned to return Hong
Kong later.
She said Immigration should allow workers whose employers
are relocating temporarily to also process new work contracts in Hong Kong .
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