Paid paternity leave for male domestic workers in HK

The Sun-Hk

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Paid paternity leave for male domestic workers in HK
A male employee with a child born on or after February 27, 2015, is entitled to 3 days' paid paternity leave


HONG KONG – Male Filipino domestic workers, mostly drivers, may not be aware of it, but they are now entitled to statutory paid paternity leave for 3 days.

Hong Kong’s Labour Department began implementing the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2014 on statutory paternity leave on February 27 this year, an official of the agency reminded domestic workers in a post-arrival orientation seminar on August 23.

Jace Chan, assistant manager of the department’s Workplace Consultation Promotion Division, said the paternity leave is one of the paid leaves that all qualified workers are entitled to under Hong Kong laws.

A male employee with a child born on or after February 27 is entitled to 3 days’ paid paternity leave if he had been employed on a continuous contract for not less than 40 weeks immediately before the day of his paternity leave.

Chan did not give further details of this policy, but information on the Labour Department website shows that paternity leave could be taken consecutively or separately each time the worker’s wife/partner delivers a baby, as long as he fulfills other requirements.

Male helpers may take paternity leave any time during the four-week period before the expected date of delivery of the child to or within the 10 weeks after the child’s actual birth.

Qualified employees may receive a daily rate of four-fifths of their average wages as paternity leave pay, according to the website announcement.

A male worker must also provide his employer with the birth certificate of his child, on which his name is entered as the child’s father, within the stipulated period.

Chan, a twice-monthly guest resource speaker at the PAOS held every Sunday by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, briefed the newly arrived domestic workers on the provisions of their work contracts.

Last Sunday, about 40 workers attended the seminar at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office conference room on the 11th floor of the Admiralty Centre Tower 1.

On paid medical leaves, Chan said the workers should be also be aware that they are entitled to two paid sick leave days per month for the first 12 months of their employment.

The entitlement increases to four paid sick leave days per month after the 12 month. Paid sick leave days can be accumulated for up to 120 days, she said.
Chan also reminded the workers that they should not pay their Hong Kong employment agencies more than 10% of their first monthly salary as commission.

In employer-worker disputes that are adjudicated at the labour tribunals, an employer who is ordered to pay an award must do so, or she would be liable to a fine of up to $350,000, Chan said.

The labour official also said domestic workers are covered by the Employees Compensation Ordinance, which requires employers to buy insurance coverage for them.

If a worker suffers a work-related injury, she would be able to claim compensation, Chan said. If she dies from her injury, the employer is liable to pay her death benefit and bear the costs of shipping her remains back to her country, that is why the employer needs to buy insurance for the worker, Chan said. – Rappler.com 

Photo of Newborn Asian baby girl crying in father’s arms via Shutterstock

 

This story is republished with permission from The SUN-HK, a content partner of Rappler 

 

 

 

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