Food, Accommodation, And Live-In Requirement

In this section:
Provision of Food
Food Allowance
Live-In Requirement
Provision of ‘Suitable and Furnished’ Accommodation
Help and Contacts

Provision of Food
One of the clauses in the Standard Employment Contract requires your employer to provide you with food free of charge during your employment. If your employer does not provide you with such food, she is obliged to give you Food Allowance.

There are cases in which the employers provide the workers with free food, but the food provided is not suitable with the preference of the workers – either due to religious conviction, allergies, or other reasons. In other cases, the food provided is simply not adequate and far from nutritious. In the case of Erwiana, for instance, she was given only plain bread and rice by the employer during her 7 month of employment.

When this happens, you firstly need to inform your employer of your religious conviction, allergies, or your preference to be given a more nutritious food. If she does not take your concern seriously and keeps failing to provide you with the food that is suitable for your religious conviction or health concern, try to negotiate and ask if you can get food allowance instead.

If your employer refuses your request for food allowance whereas the food provided is still not adequate, you may want to consider reporting it to the Labour Department. Contact us or other organisations before you do so, to get more advice on the matter. Top

Food Allowance
Before your employment contract was signed, your employer has the option either to provide you with food or Food Allowance. If she opted for the latter option, the amount of the Food Allowance should be at least the same with the amount established by the government.The Food Allowance required by the government is not less than HKD 964/month for employment contract which was signed on or after 1 October 2014.

The amount of Food Allowance is reviewed regularly by the government. Make sure you keep yourself posted on any development related to this. Any raise of Food Allowance decided by the government, however, does not automatically increase your existing Food Allowance. You will get the adjusted rate of Food Allowance in your next contract. Alternatively, you can ask your employer to amend your current contract to accommodate the new Food Allowance rate. But such amendment depends on your employer’s generosity.

There is no detailed regulation introduced by the government on the provision of food or Food Allowance for migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. It is unclear, for instance, when the employer should give you the Food Allowance.

It is best if the Food Allowance is given to you on the first day of the working period (for example, in the beginning of the month). This way, you do not have to wait until you get your wage just to buy daily food. Try to inform your employer of what your preference regarding the time of payment of Food Allowance.

Your employer will have to issue a receipt on the payment of Food Allowance to you. Below are some tips, which may be useful for you:

• Always receive and count the money given to you before signing any kind of documents handed by your employer. Make sure the amount is correct. If not, politely ask your employer if there has been any mistake. 
• Compare the amount of money you received with the amount stated in the receipt. Do not sign the receipt if the amount of money in the receipt is not the same with what you actually received.
• Do not sign any blank receipt.
• Ask for a copy of the receipt from your employer. If such of a copy is not given, take picture of the receipt and write down the details of the payment for your own record.
• If possible, sign the receipt in front of other people apart from your employer. These people may be able to testify as a witness, if there is any dispute in the future. Top

Live-In Requirement
Your employment contract requires you to work and reside at the address of your employer stated in it. It is therefore illegal for you to live at another place, for instance, a flat that you rent, or even another house owned by your employer. Top

Provision of ‘Suitable and Furnished’ Accommodation 
As you are not allowed to live elsewhere but your employer’s house, the Hong Kong government requires your employer to provide you with ‘suitable and furnished’ accommodation. The Schedule of Accommodation and Domestic Duties attached to your contract adds that such accommodation should be ‘with reasonable privacy’.

Some examples of unsuitable accommodations are if you have to sleep on made-do beds in the corridor with little privacy, or if you have to share a room with an adult or teenager of the opposite sex. The accommodation provided to you unlikely meets the privacy requirement if the space you are given is located in common area, such as bathroom or kitchen.

It is important that you carefully read the Schedule, as it contains the description of accommodation that your employer should give to you. It may be written there that you will share a room with a child aged 7 and that you will be provided with facilities such as bed, blankets, pillow, and a wardrobe. Make sure you check if the description in the contract matches with the reality.

You should bring it to the attention to your employer, if you find the description of accommodation is untrue. You can also report it to the Immigration Department after your contract is ended or terminated. In the mean time, write down your experience and take pictures of your accommodation so you can present them as evidence to the relevant authorities.

Whereas the current policy prohibits migrant domestic workers to live outside their employers’ house, HKCTU believes that such prohibition is discriminatory. It puts migrant domestic workers in a higher risk of abuse by the employers, and unnecessarily restricts their right to privacy. HKCTU has been consistently calling for such policy to be reviewed, and that migrant domestic workers are given the options either to live-in or live-out of their employers’ houses.

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Help and Contacts
List of organizations Top