After being discriminated and accused of scheming with her boyfriend to get pregnant, a Filipina service household worker in Hong Kong is demanding P1.3 million from her employer for injury to feelings, medical expenses and loss of income.
Pia Karen Sanchez, 37, first learned of her pregnancy on April 2017 when she was admitted to the hospital because of symptoms of miscarriage.
In her writ filed in the District Court, Sanchez said that her employer called her horrible and pressured her to resign. The employer also told Sanchez’s mother that they would have to pay about P300 thousand if she gave birth in Hong Kong, reported South China Morning Post.
Sanchez also claimed that her male employer gave her a look of disapproval after she resisted their demand for her resignation. After a month, she was coerced to formally leave work after filming a video, as directed by her employer, saying that she would leave Hong Kong in June.
However, Sanchez did not heed her employer’s demand and gave birth to a baby boy in Pamela Youde Eastern Hospital. Her lawyer, Man Sui-lun, said that the employer’s actions were proof of pregnancy discrimination.
Sui-lun added that the resignation gave distress to Sanchez because she suddenly lost her means to support her family in the Philippines and her child.
