‘If you send me home, I’m going to die’: Hong Kong unions call for safeguards against sacking seriously ill domestic helpers
- Helpers and labour unions spotlight cases of employers sacking domestic workers who develop serious health conditions and forcing them to leave city
- ‘It’s shocking to hear that because these women work so hard, they’re the pillars of our households,’ one employer says
Filipino domestic helper Norma Del Mundo Favorito, who worked in Hong Kong for 19 years, was devastated when she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer.
The mother-of-three said she loved the city and had planned to work for several more years to support her youngest son, who is a 20-year-old first-year university student studying computer science.
“I need to accept it but it’s so sad because my plan was to work here until my youngest son finishes college, maybe four or five years more,” the 51-year-old said. “But I can’t do it any more. It’s so hard for me.”
Despite gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions, Favorito said she was grateful to her employer for covering her medical expenses and arranging for her husband to fly out to Hong Kong.
Her elder sister, who also works as a domestic helper in the city, also stayed by her side and looked after her.
But Favorito and unions that represent domestic workers said her case was rare and many others were fired after they became seriously ill, left without access to affordable healthcare and forced to leave the city.
