Although the court went in favor of the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was overworked and underpaid, her former employer has decided to file an appeal, which Alzate and Sayas’ firm is ready to fight.
The couple has since reportedly hired three people to take shifts, doing what Alzate did all by herself. While Alzate was not paid based on the minimum wage, these new workers are reportedly receiving minimum wage, together amounting to what should’ve been paid to Alzate while she was working.
“The trial court’s judgment in favor of our nanny client is based on good facts and good law. Make no mistake about it,” said Sayas. “We will vigorously fight for the worker on appeal.”
Before Alzate’s case, her lawyer recovered $500,000 for two domestic employees and $425,000 for a security guard.
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Linda Alzate (not real name), a domestic worker in the US who cared for her former employers’ children on top of doing errands, cleaning the house and cooking, won a wage claim amounting to $827,000 (Php 43,299,652 approx.). Alzate filed the case and sought to receive what was rightfully due to her in salary which her employers owed her. At that time, she was made to work 18 to 24 hours a day and received a fixed monthly rate regardless of how long she worked according to Alzate. The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights states that domestic workers who worked long hours like Alzate and who are employed to take care of children and the elderly should be given overtime pay. Alzate began working for Drs. Peter Sim and Lorraine Diego back in 2002 taking care of the couple’s two children who had been diagnosed with autism. Her rate then was a meager $2 an hour.
Her last salary amounted to $3,000, just half of what she should have gotten based on salary standards during that year.
She was not given a day off by her former employers at that time as well.
Many Filipinas come to work to Hong Kong with one thing in mind, to earn more money for their family. some of them were lucky to have found good employers but some of them, sadly, were with abusive employers.
A domestic worker came to work in Hong Kong but was forced by her employer to serve in Shenzhen two years ago, says she was forced to work 20 hours a day while in that mainland Chinese city.
Mary, 37, the mother of two children, recalled in an interview with Apple Daily that she had been sent to serve in a house in Shenzhen two weeks after she came Hong Kong in 2015.
Her employer, an elderly woman, acquired a multiple-entry visa for her, which allowed her to stay in mainland China for up to 15 days on each visit.
Initially, Mary had to go to work in a Shenzhen house between Friday and Sunday at least three times a month. She was ordered to do the household chores from 4am to midnight and was not allowed to go online or walk on the street alone. Later it was arranged for her to serve her employers’ relatives in different houses in Shenzhen.
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She was once sent to take care of a young man in a hospital in southwestern Guangdong province for 21 days, making her husband in the Philippines very worried.
The situation lasted four months until Mary returned to Hong Kong and called for help from her employment agency. She said she was given a new employer after she threatened to report the case to the Immigration Department.
Mary said the Hong Kong government had the responsibility to stop these kinds of exploitation of domestic workers.
The interview was a part of a series of reports published by Apple Daily on Sunday about how domestic workers were forced to illegally work in China. In July, a 28-year-old Filipino maid jumped to her death from a building in Shenzhen after she was forced by her employer to serve in the southern Chinese city.
Eman Villanueva, vice-chairman of the Filipino Migrant Workers’ Union, has estimated more than a thousand Filipino domestic workers hired to work in Hong Kong have been forced to work across the border in Shenzhen. Source: Asia Times
People do everything to find a good job that will sustain their family's needs. It takes months or even years before one can finally land on a job and when they do, people expect them to hold on to that job especially if they are getting paid handsomely.
But oftentimes, we see people, good workers, who stayed for quite long in their jobs who are leaving in spite of their high salary. What could possibly be their reason?
1. They tend to overwork people.
Piling up works for even a hardworking employee could cause burn-out and make them less productive. It also makes them feel as if they're being punished for great performance. Overworking employees is also counterproductive.
New research from Stanford shows that productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that you don't get anything out of working more.
Talented employees will take on a bigger workload, but they won't stay if their job suffocates them in the process. Raises, promotions, and title-changes are all acceptable ways to increase workload.
If you simply increase workload because you think they are capable of dong it, they will seek another job that gives them what they deserve.
2. They don't recognize contributions and reward good work.
Everyone likes kudos, none more so than those who work hard and give their all.
Managers need to communicate with their people to find out what makes them feel good (for some, it's a raise; for others, it's public recognition) and then to reward them for a job well done. With top performers, this will happen often if you're doing it right.
3. They don't care about their employees.
More than half of people who leave their jobs do so because of their relationship with their boss. Working with a bosses that make them feel like they are their friends is a good thing. A pat in the back or a simple kind gesture will motivate them . Show them that you don't care and expect them to leave one by one.
4. They don't honor their commitments and promises.
Making promises to people places you on the fine line that lies between making them very happy and watching them walk out the door. Making promises without keeping it could make you slimy, uncaring, and disrespectful.
After all, why would you honor a boss who doesn't honor his or her commitments?
5. They hire and promote the wrong people.
Employers should have the eye for deserving people and promote them when it is due. Some people work really hard and some only work when they see the boss around. Promoting these people could make you lose the good ones.
6. They don't let people pursue their passions.
Talented employees are passionate. Allowing them to pursue this passion while working could make them more inspired and productive. Suppress it and they will leave you for sure.
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7. They fail to develop people's skills.
People especially the employees are progressive if you will allow them and encourage them to be one. If you think that they are excellent on what they do and leave them at it for a long time, They will get bored and eventually walk-out. Allowing them to grow could challenge them and spice up their working experience.
8. They fail to engage their creativity.
Creativity within an employee, if suppressed could be a one way ticket to go out of the company. Many employers tend to dictate everything as if their employee knows nothing. They like to be challenged and excercise their creative side. Allow it and you will be surprised or otherwise you'll be surprised as well, with their resignation letter on your table.
9. They fail to challenge people intellectually.
If your employees are doing the same thing everyday over and over, they will finally seek to find the challenge somewhere else. When talented and intelligent people find themselves doing things that are too easy or boring, they seek other jobs that will challenge their intellects. Source: Linkedin
