为何要发出警告信
在香港的外佣雇佣关系中，雇主往往处于被动地位。尽管支付了高昂的中介费用并承担法定责任，但当工人出现工作态度或行为问题时，雇主却难以采取有效行动。劳工条例倾向于保护劳工权益，即使工人表现不佳，雇主也需证明其”屡教不改”或存在”重大过失”才能合法解雇，否则可能面临劳工署调查甚至赔偿要求。
许多雇主陷入两难：日常琐碎问题（如消极怠工、态度恶劣）虽影响家庭运作，却不足以构成即时解雇理由；若频繁发出警告信，又可能被劳工处视为”刻意刁难”。更棘手的是，部分工人深谙规则，通过”搏炒”（故意激怒雇主以获取解约赔偿）反将雇主置于不利境地。
重点
- 劳工处倾向保护劳工：即使工人表现差，劳工处认为“罪不至死”。雇主可随时解雇，但需补偿。
- 常见问题不构成“死罪”：如玩手机、摔坏物品、顶嘴、态度差等，即使工人签字认错，若问题不严重，警告信也无效。频繁发信反令劳工处反感，认为雇主“欲加之罪”。工人若“搏炒”（故意激怒雇主），往往稳赢。
- 警告信是写给劳工处看的：需让劳工处同情雇主。难点在于如何将琐碎问题整合，展现雇主的长期忍让与无奈。
- 警告信的难点在于铺排：需从“劝喻”逐步升级至“严重警告”，并证明工人屡教不改，雇主已尽包容。
如何铺排？
- 入职前明确规则：制定合理《工作守则》，避免苛刻条款（如“禁止使用手机”），多用“请勿”代替“不准”。
- 初期口头提醒：发现问题先口头沟通，若无改善再发第一封信。
- 第一封信：温和劝喻
- 例：工人黑脸，可写短信询问“是否不开心？是否需要帮助？”（留副本，无需签字）。
- 若工人提要求（如借钱、请假），要求其书面申请，雇主书面回复，避免口头争议。
- 重点：工人拒签警告信≠无效。可在工资签收单注明“附关于XX问题的信件”，其签字即视为确认。
- 反例：工人摔坏电器，若信中写“保留追究权利”，劳工处可能认为雇主苛刻，反成工人证据。
- 第二封信：让步与施压
- 若第一封信无效，2-3周后发第二封，指出“未见改善”，并作出让步（如允许固定时间用手机）。要求工人书面确认让步内容，突显雇主无奈。
- 等待“重大过失”：若工人仍不收敛，需等待严重事件（如私自带婴儿外出致受伤），配合前期警告信，方可合法解雇。
- 时间线至关重要：警告信需提前部署，不可“事后补发”。
例子
（以下为英文信件，内容未修改）
例1 – 工人态度恶劣，要求被解雇
Dear XXX
Recently, my wife said that there were a number of times last week you asked her to terminate your service.
I don’t understand why you keep on asking us to terminate you. You must know that we will have to wait for two and a half months for a new helper to come and we have to teach the new helper everything all over again wasting a lot of time. Unless you have problems and have to rush back to your country, I don’t see why you want us to terminate you.
If you have any personal problem, please do not hesitate to let us know as we are always willing to help. However, if your finally decision is to leave us, please tender your resignation and give us one month notice so that we can start to find a replacement as soon as possible.
例2 – 频繁使用手机
第一封信
Date
Dear Ms XXX,
Re : Rules for domestic helperReference is made to the above list of rules which you agreed to observe on the day you commenced to work here.
Recently, we found that you were talking on the phone frequently for quite a long time during working hours; and we wonder if you could take good care of our baby while talking to your friends on the phone. We know that you will have some free time when the baby is sleeping in the afternoon, but if your mobile phone is always on, you cannot stop your friends calling you up.
We also know that a domestic helper’s job is not a challenging one and you may feel bored and want to talk to your friends. In order that you can take good care of the baby, we strongly request that you use the phone only when we come back from work and you should turn off your mobile phone during your working hours especially when we’re not home.
Your attention to this matter is highly appreciated.
第二封信
Date
Dear XXFurther to our letter dated _______ requesting you to turn off your mobile phone during working hours so that you will not be disturbed by your friends’ calls when you are taking care of our baby, we are sorry that we did not see any improvements on this till now. (最好能一起讲一下事情经过，例如婆婆无意中见到好几次)
You must know that the two of us do not need a helper if not because of the baby, and we rely totally on you to take care of her/him while we are not home. If we have to be worried all the time about her/his safety while we are working, what’s the purpose of hiring you ?
Therefore, please observe the rules which we mutually agreed, and turn off your mobile phone until we come home from work !
Yours sincerely,
提示：若未发生重大事故（如因玩手机导致婴儿受伤），最多发三封警告信。若时间拖长且无改善，建议补偿解雇，避免纠缠。