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Fit for Purpose?
恰如其分?

Fit for Purpose? Assessing compliance with the Code of Practice is a research report assessing the implementation of the Hong Kong SAR government's Code of Practice for Employment Agencies. Five years after it came into force the report highlights how agencies are still failing to comply with the code and makes recommendations to the government and recruitment industry on how better to project the human and labour rights of migrant domestic workers.

The report is based on qualitative interviews with 105 Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers between April and June 2021. It was produced by the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) in collaboration with the Union of United Domestic Workers (UUDW) as a follow-up to the 2018 report Agents of Change? that provided a similar assessment of the CoP.

The price of justice

The Price of Justice exposes how migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong face a range of administrative and financial obstacles when filing a claim against their employer at the conciliation service, Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board (MECAB) or Labour Tribunal. The most common claims were in relations to their wages, food and travelling allowance, and flight ticket home.

FADWU’s interviews with 25 migrant domestic workers reveal that during the conciliation service, their employers offered on average a mere 51% of the amount claimed by the workers. Similarly, seventeen interviewees who took their case on to the Labour Tribunal averaged claims of HK$34,300, but the average amount awarded was only HK$13,822 or 40% of their claim.

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The Price of Justice examines the challenges migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong face when bringing cases against their employers. The film follows four Filipino women and their families as they try to seek justice for wrongful termination and breaches of their contracts.

Agents of change?

The report, based on a survey of over 450 migrant domestic workers, examines the implementation of the Hong Kong government’s Code of Practice for Employment Agencies (CoP), and its impact on the human and labour rights of domestic workers in the territory.

The research was conducted by members of FADWU and Indonesian domestic worker organisation, KOBUMI, with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and Rights Exposure (RE). It is the first research to be published on the CoP since it came into force.

Since Jan 2017, in the name of improving monitor mechanism to employment agencies, the Hong Kong Labour Department launched the “Code of Practice” for employment agencies.

After 1 year of implementation of “Code of Practice”, did the employment agencies become more clean? In order to assess Hong Kong employment agencies compliance with CoP, sisters of FADWU and KOBUMI formed a survey team and interviewed 452 migrant domestic workers.

The survey team also conducted 18 undercover recordings for investigating the amount of charges for job placement.

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Agents of Change is a research project based on a quantitative survey conducted by Filipino and Indonesian migrant domestic workers on the implementation of the Hong Kong SAR government's new Code of Practice for Employment Agencies. It highlights how agencies are failing to comply with the voluntary code and makes recommendations to the government and recruitment industry on how better to protect the human and labour rights of migrant domestic workers. The project ran from March 2017 to June 2018. The full research report is available in Chinese and English.

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Between a rock and a hard place

This research and campaign project to address illegal agency fees in the Philippines and Hong Kong was designed by members of the Executive Committee of the FADWU. As decision-makers, the FADWU Executive Committee identified the research parameters and campaign objectives. The project was implemented by the Progressive Labor Union of Domestic Workers in Hong Kong (PLU, an affiliate of FADWU) with support from the Rights Exposure.

A team consisting of PLU members conducted the research over a nine-month period. Training and mentoring support were provided to the PLU researchers throughout this period. A covert recording team consisting of two PLU members and an audio-visual professional was also formed to gather evidence of the illegal practices by placement agencies in Hong Kong. This participatory methodology recognises the agency of migrant domestic workers to identify and prioritise the human and labour rights abuses that they face and to find solutions. It also aims to enhance and strengthen the ability of migrant workers and their organisations to represent the needs of their community through first-hand information, knowledge and experience.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place is a research and advocacy project investigating the illegal fees charged to Filipino migrant domestic workers by employment agencies in both the Philippines and Hong Kong. It documentes human and labour rights abuses, including trafficking and forced labour. The project ran from March 2016 to February 2017. The full report is available in Chinese and English.

My Fair Home is a short promotional video made for the #MyFairHome campaign. The campaign aims to improve the working conditions of domestic workers by reaching out to their employers. It encourages them to personally take a pledge to commit to upholding the rights of domestic workers in their own homes. 

You can learn more about the campaign and how to take the pledge here.

Know Your Rights is a series of short explainer videos created for the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) for use on social media. The aim of the videos is to inform migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong of their rights and how to protect themselves from exploitation and abuse. There are four videos in the series, each available in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Nepalese and Thai.

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