Malaysia vs Hong Kong: Employers' Perception and Attitudes Towards Foreign Domestic Workers

The systematic gross violations of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) fundamental rights are a direct consequence of them not being recognised as workers and therefore not protected under most national laws. The Malaysian Employment Act 1955 addresses FDWs as "servants". FDWs do not have the rights for a weekly day of, no annual leaves and all other labour rights entitled to other categories of workers. They can only claim for unpaid wages. It is this very policy of exclusion that has made domestic workers vulnerable to widespread abuse, including all forms of violence, particularly sexual and mental violence to the point of systemic torture, denial of rest time and vulnerable to occupational health hazards with little or no access to treatment and care. Comparatively, Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world that grants most of the fundamental labour rights to FDWs. The Employment Ordinance and the Employees' Compensation Ordinance established labour rights for FDWs that cover rest days, holidays and annual leaves, maternity protection and rights to unionise etc. With such distinctive legislative background for FDWs, CARAM Asia with its network members in Malaysia and in Hong Kong conducted a comparative analysis on the perceptions of employers for FDWs in Malaysia and Hong Kong. There are over 300,000 FDWs in Malaysia while there are over 200,000 FDWs in Hong Kong. Almost all are women. For over a decade, the CARAM Asia network has been advocating for legislative protection for FDWs in the Asia Pacific region including active work with its members in Malaysia, Hong Kong and other countries where FDWs originate from, such as Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. The outcome of this comparative analysis of employers' perceptions towards FDWs founded on the lack of legal protection in Malaysia and the relatively better protection in Hong Kong; will feed into CARAM Asia's broader advocacy in the region to call for greater legislative protection. We seek to understand how legislative protection influences employers' attitude and perceptions towards FDWs.