Maid says her employer asks her to clean his relative’s house once a week without payment

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media asking questions about the course of action when her employer transferred her.

In an anonymous post to a support group for domestic helpers and employers alike, one helper said that her employers were emigrating. She added that they planned to transfer her to new employers. In her post, the helper asked if her employers were still obligated to pay for her accommodation and provide her with an allowance for food until she found a new employer. The maid also said that until she found a new employer, her previous employers asked her to clean their relative’s house weekly without payment. She asked others in the group what she should do and how she should respond to this. “IS this affair (sic) if they give 1month notice without give (sic) accommodation n provide food allowance but still ask[in]g to help their relative??” the helper asked.

One netizen who commented in the group wrote: “If you are being transfered via an agent , the employer pays the agency for your accommodation and food for the number of weeks specified in the contract between agency and employer. No salary, and no work for the employer or their relatives. If it is for direct transfer, they need to continue being responsible for you during the month , and you need to continue working for them. If you manage to get a transfer before then, your salary stops on the day you get transferred”.

According to the Manpower Ministry, “All employees – whether local or foreign, including your migrant domestic worker (MDW) – can terminate the employment contract at any time, as long as they serve the required notice stated in their contract, or make payment in lieu of notice. This is to maintain flexibility for both the employer and the MDW. When employees do so, it is not considered a breach of contract. Likewise, employers should also give notice as stated in the contract if they intend to end the MDW’s employment prematurely.

Both employers and MDWs may need to terminate a contract early for unanticipated reasons. To cater for this, employment contracts typically provide for such flexibility through termination clauses, which can be exercised before contract expiry. That said, many employment agencies do provide assistance to employers, such as finding a replacement, if the MDW terminates her employment contract early. Employers must also make sure that their MDWs are paid before they leave. Failure to do so is an offence under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act”.