Maid who’s about to be transferred asks employer for salary, says her employer then deducts insurance fee that was paid when she was hired

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media with a question about who had to bear her insurance fees as she was about to be transferred.

In an anonymous post to a Facebook group for domestic helpers, the woman wrote that she broke her contract with her current employer and was to be transferred to another employer. Without stating her reasons for breaking her contract, the maid wrote that she then asked her employer for her last salary to be paid. “Then she told me that she will deduct the insurance that she paid when she hired me.Is it my obligation to pay my insurance to my previous employer when she hired me? I asked her why but she didnt answer me back”, the helper wrote.

In her post, the maid then added that when her salary was sent to her bank account, she noticed that her employer did indeed deduct the insurance fee. Asking others for advice on what to do, the maid wrote that she was surprised when her employer informed her that she had to bear the cost of her own insurance.

Here’s what others in the group said:

According to the Manpower Ministry (MOM), employers “need to buy medical and personal accident insurance for your migrant domestic worker (MDW). Find out the coverage required. Before your helper arrives in Singapore, you must buy medical insurance and personal accident insurance as part of your medical obligations to her. You cannot pass on the cost of purchasing the insurance to your helper”.

Last month, another foreign domestic helper with a lot of questions about her agency’s practices took to social media to clarify them.

In her post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid raised questions on five different issues she faced. In the first, she asked if it was normal that her agent did not give her a copy of both the contract she signed in the Philippines and the contract that she signed in Singapore. She then asked who was responsible to hold her IPA after she entered Singapore. (An in-principle approval (IPA) is one of the requirements to bring migrant workers into Singapore.)

Her third issue – the maid wrote that her agent made her sign a blank piece of paper with a specific monetary amount on it. When she asked the agent what the piece of paper was or if she needed to take a photo of it, the agent simply refused. “why she ask you to sign a blank paper but she put an amount on it .. you ask her what is this or need to take picture but refuses ?” the maid wrote.

Maid says that her agent made her sign a blank piece of paper, did not give her a copy of her contract or reveal agency fees