Court orders employer to compensate deceased domestic worker fired over cancer diagnosis

A Hong Kong court has ordered an employer to pay more than HK$251,000 in compensation to the estate of a deceased Filipino domestic worker who was unlawfully fired just days after being diagnosed with late-stage cervical cancer. The landmark ruling brings a close to a tragic seven-year legal battle that outlasted the worker, who passed away in 2021 before seeing the final verdict. Deputy District Judge Ebony Ling Yee-nan handed down the judgment at the District Court, ruling that the former employer, Jamil Bushra, committed disability discrimination by terminating 38-year-old Baby Jane Teodoro Allas in early 2019. The compensation package includes roughly HK$33,000 for loss of income, HK$120,000 for emotional distress, and HK$98,000 to cover medical expenses. The judge also ordered the employer to pay legal costs and interest, noting that he had ignored mediation attempts by the Equal Opportunities Commission, evaded court documents, and completely absented himself from the proceedings. The lawsuit was carried on by Allas’s sister following her death. In assessing the damages for emotional distress, the judge highlighted the severe psychological blow dealt to the worker. Allas, a single mother of five children and the sole provider for her elderly mother in the Philippines, had maintained a good relationship with her employer during her fifteen months of service. The judge noted that firing her a mere three days after a Stage 3 cancer diagnosis was exceptionally cruel, likening the action to rubbing salt in her wounds while she was already highly vulnerable and anxious about her life-threatening illness. The sudden termination had devastating practical consequences. The judge pointed out that the employer explicitly cited the cancer diagnosis in the termination letter, which immediately stripped Allas of her work visa and her right to access Hong Kong’s heavily subsidized public healthcare system. Addressing the medical compensation, the court found it entirely reasonable for Allas to seek private medical treatment in Hong Kong. The judge recognized that returning to the Philippines was not a viable alternative due to the limited medical resources in her hometown and the exorbitant costs of cancer care in major Philippine cities. According to the case background, Allas was hired on a two-year contract in November 2017. Following her diagnosis in early 2019, a doctor certified that she was still physically fit to perform her domestic duties. Despite this, she was dismissed and pressured to sign documents stating she had received her termination compensation, which she refused to do before leaving the residence. She previously won a HK$30,000 settlement at the Labour Tribunal in 2019 before the Equal Opportunities Commission helped her file the discrimination lawsuit. The Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions welcomed the ruling but lamented the agonizingly long legal process. The advocacy group highlighted that the employer had been completely unresponsive for seven years, placing a heavy psychological burden on the grieving family. The union stressed that the case underscores the severe vulnerabilities of foreign domestic workers in the city. Faced with sudden job loss, revoked visas, and astronomical private medical bills, most exploited workers are forced to suffer in silence or return home without adequate care, as very few have the financial or structural support needed to endure years of protracted legal battles.