Action Taken on Illegal Employment Agency Activities

As part of our ongoing work with domestic workers, the Centre is assisting the Consulate General of the Republic of the Philippines to seek justice for over 600 domestic workers.

This group of domestic workers were defrauded a total amount of over HK$10 million, by a rogue employment agency. Workers were falsely and unlawfully promised employment in Canada and the UK in exchange for payments of between HK$10,000 to HK$15,000.

We are aware that there are employment agencies engaging in various unlawful acts including overcharging, identity document theft and facilitating illegal loans, and these have gone largely uninvestigated in Hong Kong.

This case was, however, simply too egregious to ignore, and it is emblematic of the systemic hurdles facing domestic workers, who have been victimized by the unlawful acts of employment agencies.

The Domestic Workers’ Roundtable (which is convened by the Centre) has been actively supporting these cases and provided assistance to both the Consulate General and the relevant local authorities, which has been critical in the arrests made to date.

The Rountable’s important work in this area, to enhance enforcement of existing laws continues, remains ongoing.

Click here to view the Sun Web news article.