legal contract or illegal

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    legal contract or illegal

    Im a filipino who was offer a job in hongkong last june 30,2008. My mother company is in hongkong, we travel to china for trainning. Then after two months i went back to philippines, then i said to my boss that i quit. i already talk to labour people in hongkong, they said i have to pay the 7 days wages if i dont want to serve the notice period.My question is does my contract legal? We never fill out any work permit application form.Do you think my probationary contract is legal? We never step in hong kong cause the trainning is in china. Do you think my employer should have apply us a work permit?


  2. #2

    Join Date
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    Clearly if you had taken up employment in Hong Kong without an Employment Visa then that would have been illegal.

    However, since you didn't enter Hong Kong at all I can't see that the employer did anything wrong here - they can simply argue that they were waiting to see if you completed the training satisfactorily before applying for the visa, and that you wouldn't have entered Hong Kong until it was granted.

    On the contract side, the Labour Department are obviously the official authority on this. Unfortunately, HK labour law is really very weak in the protection and minimum terms it offers employees. If is quite common and, I believe, quite legal for you you to be required to pay compensation to your employer if you refuse to work your contracted notice period.

    Sorry I can't see any particularly positive side to this, although it does seem that you got two months training with salary paid for two months minus 7 days, so you've got more benefit than the employer if that training would be useful to you anywhere else.


  3. #3

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    Jan 2008
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    it will be hard for the hk employeer to chase you for the excess wages in the philipines, but will they black list you from ever getting DH visa within hk in the future?


  4. #4

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    Eh? Who mentioned DH visas? This regards an Employment Visa as far as I can tell.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    follow

    How about they started to work now after 3 months do you think it is still legal for them to operate, right now they are in indonesia doing real job not trainning, its already finish the probationary period, do you think he should have done this also what if my boss dont have a work permit do you think it is legal for him to operate?
    Thanks for the answer so i just wanted to have a clearance or even termination letter from him thats all


  6. #6

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    Why should they need a work permit for Hong Kong if they are working in Indonesia? They may need work permits for Indonesia, but I know nothing about that. You only need a work permit for Hong Kong if you plan to want to work in Hong Kong. Having a contract of employment signed in Hong Kong is totally irrelevant - the country of the contract is often completely different from the country where you are employed, and it is the country where you are employed which determines where you need a visa.


  7. #7
    cmlg

    Hi Plitskin,

    I'm curious, you said your case happened in Jun 2008, but now is Nov 2008. Are you planning to complain your previous boss or you just want to know how to get a job in HK?

    In your first sentence, you said your mother company is in HK. Do you mean it is registered company in HK OR a registered company elsewhere?


  8. #8

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    Nov 2008
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    13

    Thanks for the information our company is a hongkong base one which deals with international field service works. That is why our contract is address in hongkong. the indonesia thing is you just need a business visa cause your a foreign worker handling the name of a hong kong base company.
    Also i would like to know if my boss who is employed in hongkong as a genaral manager he also need a working permit right? If he dont have a working permit do you think our contract is valid ? Or his signature in our contract is not valid?


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    13

    CMLG
    I need a clearance or even a termination letter from my previous employer, my new company required me to have it. My company is registered company in hong kong i already check it and it is still active


  10. #10

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    Immigration rules and contract validity are completely separate issues. Immigration violations by any individual can have no effect on the validity of a contract between you and the company.

    The problem you have is with the ridiculous Philippines bureaucracy that requires you to have a letter from your previous employer in order to get a new job. This is something that doesn't exist in developed countries. Surely you can just give someone a few pesos to forget about that letter?

    Last edited by PDLM; 10-11-2008 at 12:30 PM.

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