Exclusive - Pinay OFW Was Fined HK $800 for Eating Her Employer's Meatballs!

40-year-old Mildred Nilo Ladia, on OFW working in Hong Kong, was charged with one count of theft after she was accused of stealing two pairs of leather slippers and an expensive handbag from her employer. Prior to this incident, she was also fined for eating her former employer’s meatballs last year.

Ladia pled guilty of eating her employer’s meatballs but denied stealing the two pairs of leather slippers and an Agnes B handbag from her former employer, Gekko Lan Suet-ying.

She was set free after the jury decided not to pursue the case because of the complainant's absence. According to South China Morning Post, the employer was hospitalized when the trial took place.

However, Ladia was unable to flee from the case filed against her involving her former employer’s meatballs.

The court fined her HK $800 (about PHP 5,138.79) for eating Lan’s food which only cost HK $100 (around PHP 642.35).

According to the news source, her former employer deducted HK $100 from her salary of HK $4,210 (P27,038.65). The incident happened in May of last year but was re-opened since Ladia’s new case involved another alleged theft.

Aside from the monetary fine, Ladia’s lawyer, Theresa Low, claimed that Ladia is set to lose opportunities to find work in Hong Kong as the court decided to cancel her eligibility for any potential Hong Kong-based employment.

“The consequences of criminal conviction for my client are devastating,” she told the court. “She ... will not be employable again in Hong Kong,” Low said, lifted from SCMP.

Low also added that Ladia is her family’s sole breadwinner who supports her three children. She also has work experience in Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. In 2015, she arrived in Hong Kong and started working for Lan.

The OFW tried to file a petition of absolute discharge but the magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming rejected it, saying the case involved “a breach of trust”.

However, he did not impose immediate imprisonment as he considered the meatballs a food item with low monetary value. Furthermore, the compensation was already made when Ladia’s employer deducted its price from her salary.

“She probably will lose her job and the opportunity to work in Hong Kong, which is a rather severe impact,” he said.