NEVER tell your maid the reason for not renewing her contract is because of financial difficulty. If you tell her you are not replacing her with another maid, then YES you will have to pay her 遣散費 also because the job position has been eliminated。
When is the last day of her contract? If you terminate her 42 days or less before the expiry of her contract, she would still legally be considered finished contract by HK law. And even if you renew her contract, you can only submit your renewal application maximum 28 days before her contract expiry.
So what I do is this - I do not tell the maid whether to renew or not. Then on the 41st day before her contract expires, I terminate her (and pay her the one month notice etc.) This way, as soon as she finds out you do not renew, she has to leave your home, so no risk of her doing anything bad to your family. And then she will have a good record of finishing her contract with you which will make it easier for her to find the next job.
Be careful of your maid after you tell her that you are not going to renew her contract. I just found out this saturday that my ex maid stole all my foreign currencies & some cash. From this incident, I now realised that she was the one who took my red packets & made me gave out some empty red packets to my relatives this year. As she left in 13/6/09 & I have no proof, what can I do!
You have to be careful after you tell her that you are not going to renew her contract. I just found out last saturday that my ex maid stole all my foreign currencies (i didn't renew her contract & she left on 13/6). I also realised that I lost the red packets money this year & my mom told me that I gave out some empty red packets were due to her. But without any evidence, what can I do! She told me when she left that she is going to work for a japanese family. Be careful of this philippines maid, Analyn X Fixxta 21/4/80.