A foreign domestic worker who was just transferred to an expatriate family said that her employers did not give her any food allowance as they agreed upon, and she took to social media asking others for advice on what to do.
In an anonymous post on Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid shared her issues through a friend who wrote in.
The helper’s friend explained in a post on Wednesday (Sept 21) that before the helper agreed to work for the family, they spoke about giving her a food allowance. However, “when my friend start work they didn’t buy anything to her even pillows blankets etc”.
The maid accepted this initially as she had her own pillows and blankets but she thought that her employers would give her a food allowance when she started working.
“her employer told her they will only give her alowance once she got her salary so fine for my friend,but atleast they need to buy her some stuff to cook and eat,so 1 week pass they buy her 1kg of rice and 3packs of coffee and what my friend surprises is that her lady boss told her that the rice and coffee will be deducted to the food alowance so she was shocked as they didn’t buy her anything”, the helper’s friend wrote. She asked if this was normal practice where the helper was only given her food allowance after a month.
The helper’s friend added that the maid was the one who did the marketing for the family. Though her employers only allotted $45 for their own groceries, the expenses would often come up to almost $200 which she would pay with her own money first. “even picking up the kids from school uses her own ezlink as her employer told her to use her own”, the helper’s friend wrote.
She asked netizens for their advice on what to do so she could advise her friend.
Here’s what they said:
Last month, a foreign domestic worker whose employers decided to shift house thrice over three years said, these processes have been very taxing on her as they have many things for her to pack in each move.
In an anonymous post to Facebook page FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the helper wrote that she had been working for her employers for three years. When she was first hired, the house that they lived in was “not so big”, she said. The family was made up of a couple, a child, and a dog. She added that the next house they shifted to was double the size of the first one.
In her post, she also wrote that the couple had a new baby as well. The helper said that she did not complain as she was able to manage caring for the family and cleaning the home.
“last week before we move to this new house and ive never seen it so far,icomplained because [I] feel very tired, pressured, sleepless, and told them about food matters as [they] didn[‘]t buy anymore due to moving”, the maid wrote. She said that she also asked the family for an increment in her pay as she needed the money to buy vitamins and food. The helper also wrote that she had to pack all of the family’s things, which came up to more than 80 boxes, “which is heavy for me.. and during this time..i got alot of bruises and body pain”.
The maid wrote that the family unnecessarily added pressure on her as well. For example, some of the clothes were stained while packing, she said that this could have been easily rectified but the family complained, leading to her being very stressed out, to the point of her wanting to move out.