SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper, who had been employed for just a few weeks, told her employer that she had no intentions of working long-term.
In an anonymous post to a support group for domestic helpers and employers alike, a woman said that her family recently hired a helper from Myanmar to take care of her infant. The maid was a direct hire, she said. “She has been with us for less than a month and early this week she mentioned that she wants to return home to visit her mother who is in a refugee camp for about 2 months,” the woman wrote.
She said that her maid then said after two months back in Myanmar, she wants to come to Singapore and work for a few more months before returning home again next year as the organisers are going to move the refugees. “She wants to be with her mother eventually. Her intention is to go back and register her name to be part of that move,” the woman wrote.
In her post, she added that her maid had yet to clear her medical checkup as she needed to go for additional scans and checkups.
“Should I just let her go now as it was her intention, so I don’t have to settle her medical and let her ipa ride out. Or wait till sept, issue wp, pay for her medical and let her go knowing that she doesn’t have intentions of working her long term? In dilemma here”, the employer wrote.
Some helpers who commented on the post asked the employer to give the maid another chance, but most other employers advised her to send the helper back directly.
Here’s what they wrote:
Read related:
Earlier this year, a foreign domestic helper who initially wanted to break her contract jumped all too quickly at the chance when her employer agreed to let her go back on holiday.
In an anonymous post to a Facebook support group, the woman wrote that her helper from Myanmar had been with the family for seven months. She has had experience working in Singapore, but they hired her directly from Myanmar. “So far, we have been happy with her and has never once scolded her for her mistakes or things she broke. She can rest early as long as work is completed, and no curfew for her off days. She also has not restrictions on her phone and has her own room”, the woman wrote.
She added that her helper came to her and said that she wanted to go back to Myanmar at the end of the year to work there. “We tried to probe for more concrete reasons and she just said she don’t want to work here anymore. We asked if she’s unhappy with us and want to change mployer but again she says she’s very happy with us. Then it came out that her friend is going back in Dec too”, the employer wrote.