The employer of a domestic helper in Hong Kong is sued for damages and has been therefore asked to pay HK$580,000 (US$74,155) as compensation.
The employer was allegedly depriving her late domestic helper who was a Filipino of food and sacked her after learning that she was diagnosed with cancer, the court heard.
According to the court hearing, in 2017, the domestic helper Joan Sarmiento Guting was diagnosed with cervical cancer, oedema and acute kidney failure. And eventually died at the age of 41 in the Philippines after she returned home.
Her friend and executrix, Carla Arangote Temporosa was in the District Court on Wednesday to testify against the employer, Rita Choy Chiu-yee.
The hearing said, Choy was accused of unlawfully discriminating against Guting in April 2017, when the latter was on sick leave at her home.
The employer allegedly ignored Guting, refused to provide her with sufficient food, installed a security camera and threw away utensils she used.
Five years after she filed the allegations to the Equal Opportunities Commission, Temporosa told the court that Guting said the employer had barred her from using the kitchen and left her with no option but to cook in her bedroom with a rice cooker she took from a friend.
“She only cooked once [after she was discharged]. And after that, the employer had controlled her use [of the kitchen] and then she was not allowed,” Temporosa said in the cross-examination.
“She had to ask for food from fellow church members.”
Denise Souza, the lawyer representing the claimant, told the court that Guting had worked for Choy for two years and three months before she was diagnosed with the illness in March 2017.
The lawyer said a series of 3 incidents against Guting started after she returned to the flat following her first hospital admission. Guting was on a month-long sick leave.
Video evidence presented by Choy’s lawyer, Chan Yip-hei, showed the employer had secretly filmed Guting while cooking rice in the kitchen. But Temporosa said this was the only occasion before her friend was prohibited from using the kitchen and even the fridge.
Guting’s employment was terminated with immediate effect on May 1, 2017, two days after she was discharged from her third hospital admission. Choy asked her to leave the house on the same day.
Temporosa, who received Guting’s call for help, said her friend brought dirty clothes with her because she was forbidden to use the washing machine due to her illness, which Choy thought was contagious.
But Choy argued that the reason for the dismissal was the helper’s poor performance, which had dissatisfied her months before the diagnosis.
“The last straw was the fact that Choy found out Guting was taking pictures of her home,” Chan told the court, adding the employer and her husband deferred the official termination for months because they were away on trips.
Choy also denied that she barred Guting from entering the kitchen, adding those allegations were “easy to make” but difficult to prove, as the current case was built on the late helper’s words against hers.
Apart from the damage allegations, the claimant also demanded a court order requiring Choy to apologise to Guting and her family.
A five-day trial hearing is expected to be held before Deputy District Judge Grace Chow Chiu-man.
Source: SCMP
香港家庭傭工雇主被要求支付58萬港元補償她對已故菲律賓女傭的偏見，法庭聆訊
香港一名家庭傭工的雇主被起訴要求賠償，並因此被要求支付 58 萬港元（74,155 美元）作為賠償。
法庭獲悉，雇主據稱剝奪了她已故菲律賓女傭的食物，並在得知她被診斷出患有癌症後解雇了她。
據法庭審訊，2017年，家政女傭瓊·薩米恩托·古廷被診斷出患有子宮頸癌、水腫和急性腎衰竭。 最後她回國後在菲律賓過世，享年41歲。
她的朋友兼遺囑執行人卡拉·阿蘭戈特·坦波羅薩 (Carla Arangote Temporosa) 週三在地方法院出庭作證指控雇主蔡朝儀 (Rita Choy Chiu-yee)。
聽證會稱，蔡被指控在 2017 年 4 月非法歧視古廷，當時古廷在家中請病假。
據稱，雇主無視古婷，拒絕為她提供足夠的食物，安裝了安全攝像頭，並扔掉了她用過的餐具。
在她向平等機會委員會提出指控五年後，坦波羅莎告訴法庭，古廷說雇主禁止她使用廚房，讓她別無選擇，只能用她從朋友那裡拿來的電飯鍋在臥室裡做飯。。
「[出院後]她只煮過一次飯。 此後，雇主控制了她（廚房）的使用，然後就不允許她使用了，」坦波羅薩在盤問中說。
“她不得不向教會成員索取食物。”
原告的代理律師 Denise Souza 告訴法庭，古婷在 2017 年 3 月被診斷出患病之前，已經為 Choy 工作了兩年零三個月。
律師表示，針對古婷的一系列三起事件是在她第一次入院後回到公寓後開始的。 古廷請了一個月的病假。
蔡的律師陳業熙出示的影片證據顯示，雇主在廚房煮飯時偷拍了古婷。 但坦波羅莎表示，這是她的朋友被禁止使用廚房甚至冰箱的唯一一次。
古婷的僱傭關係於 2017 年 5 月 1 日即她第三次出院兩天後立即終止。 崔要求她當天離開家。
接到古婷求助電話的坦波羅莎說，她的朋友帶來了髒衣服，因為她因生病而被禁止使用洗衣機，蔡認為這種病會傳染。
但蔡女士辯稱，被解僱的原因是女傭的表現不佳，這讓她在確診前幾個月感到不滿。
陳告訴法庭：「最後一根稻草是蔡發現古婷正在為她的家拍照。」她補充說，雇主和她的丈夫將正式終止合約推遲了幾個月，因為他們外出旅行。
蔡還否認她禁止古婷進入廚房，並補充說這些指控“很容易提出”，但很難證明，因為目前的案件是建立在已故幫工對她的言論之上的。
除了損害指控外，原告還要求法院下達命令，要求蔡向古婷及其家人道歉。
預計副區域法官週超文將舉行為期五天的審訊聽證會。
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