The sister of a late Filipina domestic worker who was fired after a cancer diagnosis in 2019 has said the discrimination case with Hong Kong’s equality watchdog is still ongoing.
Mary Ann Allas, the sister of the late Baby Jane Allas, speaking in a pre-recorded video at a press conference on March 9, 2025. Photo: Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions.
Mary Ann Allas said on Saturday that it had been “six long years” since her sister Baby Jane Allas filed a complaint to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
Mary Ann, a domestic worker in Hong Kong, said that although the EOC kept her updated, it was difficult for her and her family to get closure without a result.
She made the comments in a pre-recorded video played by the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions (FADWU) at a press conference on Sunday, which called attention to the plight of domestic workers who were fired following their cancer diagnosis.
Baby Jane died in 2021 at the age of 40 due to cervical cancer. When she was diagnosed with stage three cancer in February 2019, her employers terminated her contract.
The termination meant the single mother of five was no longer eligible for subsidised treatment at public hospitals. Mary Ann’s employer started a crowdfunding campaign to support Baby Jane’s treatment at a private hospital, and Baby Jane then returned to the Philippines.
Baby Jane Allas and her sister Mary Ann. Photo: Jessica Cutrera Papadopoulos, via Facebook.
Baby Jane lodged a complaint with the EOC in 2019, alleging her employer discriminated against her on the basis of her health – a violation of the Disability Discrimination Ordinance – but Mary Ann said the case “wasn’t done yet.”
“We didn’t do any hearing yet because [Baby Jane’s former] employer is nowhere to be found. [The EOC] said she’s not in Hong Kong anymore because all of her assets [are] not here anymore,” Mary Ann said.
She said she hoped the case would finish this year.
“I want to move on completely also,” she said. “I can say that the justice in Hong Kong is quite slow for us helpers. I’m not sure with other helpers, but in our situation it was very, very slow.”
HKFP has reached out to the EOC for comment.
Right to a cure
FADWU and the Filipino Migrants Cancer Support Society Hong Kong – which also participated in the press conference – said that since 2020, they had recorded 195 cases of domestic workers diagnosed with cancer or other critical illnesses.
According to the groups, only 67 of them kept their jobs and stayed in Hong Kong for treatment, but some were forced to use their rest days for hospital treatment, denied medical expense coverage, or had to partially pay for their medical fees.
The standard employment contract for domestic workers states employers “shall provide free medical treatment.”
Many employers refuse to support their domestic workers during their darkest hours, exactly when they need it the most, said Rowena Borja, the secretary of FADWU.
United Christian Hospital. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Like Baby Jane, migrant workers who are no longer employed lose access to subsidised treatment at Hong Kong’s public hospitals as they are no longer on their domestic worker visa, said Janice Valencia, the chairperson of the cancer support group.
Domestic workers are “deprived of the rights to be cured. That’s the saddest thing,” Valencia said. If they were to return home, they would face a long wait in the medical system, she added.
FADWU and the cancer support group called on the government to allow ill workers to continue using public hospital services regardless of their job status.
Earlier this year, FADWU raised awareness about a Filipina domestic worker who was fired last August after she decided to undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer, against her employer’s wishes.
The group launched a fundraising campaign to support her medical fees.
