A Filipina domestic helper walked out on her job just 13 days into her two-year job contract in Hong Kong after her employer took her to China shortly after her arrival and told her she would be working there.
The worker, Irene Nolasco, made the statement when her claim against her employer, Wei Ying, was heard at the Labour Tribunal on May 9.
Nolaso also told the tribunal that she was struck in her right arm by the elderly mother of Wei, prompting her to leave the house and report to the Chinese police and to the Hong Kong authorities at the border.
Presiding Officer Isabella Chu adjourned the hearing indefinitely as investigations by the Chinese police and the HK Immigration Department are continuing.
Wei did not appear in the hearing.
Nolasco is seeking a total of $17,000 in arrears in wages, air ticket, food and travel allowance, and damages.
The Filipina said she arrived in Hong Kong on Nov 20 last year. Three days later, she was taken by Wei to her mother’s house in Guangdong province.
She said she did not expect to be sent there because her contract stated that she would be working at Wei’s Hong Kong address.
Chu said that as the assault case against Wei’s mother and the Immigration investigation of the employer are not yet finished, she had to adjourn the case without a fixed date for a resumption of the hearing.
But she told Nolasco to inform the tribunal once she receives word from the authorities that the criminal cases had been concluded, so that her claim could be restored.
Outside the courtroom, Nolasco told The SUN that she left Hong Kong on Feb 20 to be with her family while she reapplied for a job in Hong Kong.
Before she came to Hong Kong, she worked for two years in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where she said she had good Arab employers.
