Scott Stiles

The founder of the Fair Employment Foundation discusses the importance of enhancing and protecting the rights of domestic workers

By Samantha Mei Topp

Almost ten million people work in domestic roles in Asia-Pacific, according to the International Labour Organization, yet forced labour and debt bondage run rampant in the domestic worker community. Limited recruitment options abroad mean jobs outside the workers’ home country often come with extortionate recruitment fees. “The recruitment system is broken,” says Scott Stiles, the founder of the Fair Employment Foundation. After realising the problems the industry faces, Stiles decided to take action. He teamed up with Tammy Baltz, a volunteer with the Hong Kong NGO Help for Domestic Workers, to eliminate recruitment fees and transfer the job placement fee from the domestic worker to their employer. Since the foundation began in 2014, it has seen recruitment fees in the city drop from US$2,000 (HK$15,500) to US$700 (HK$5,425) in 2020, and Stiles…

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Tatler Hong Kong (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2020

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