A foreign domestic worker who wanted to change her employer asked what she should do when her employer did not consent.
In an anonymous post to Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid reached out to a participant in the group.
On her behalf, they wrote: “One of the helper has reached out to us and wanted to take a transfer because she is not happy in current working conditions. And her employer is not ready to transfer”.
The netizen added: “But I want to know what is the process ? How she can do transfer if employer not ready to transfer. Can she complain to MOM or any other ways ?”
When asked for more information, the netizen added that the maid was living in very bad conditions.
“Long working hours with less or no food. Also she has to finish all work on Sunday like cleaning, cooking etc before going out. Only she can complain. Right now she wants to change the employer as she cannot afford to go back home as 3 kids in phillipines dependent on her”, they added.
Others who commented on the post wrote that the maid should give her employer a month’s notice before leaving.
Here’s what they said:
Last month, another foreign domestic worker got another friend of hers to post on social media asking others for help with her predicament. Her employer, who previously promised to transfer her instead of sending her back home, went back on their word, saying that they were “not used to transfer(ring) maids”.
In her post on Monday (Aug 22), the helper had been working for three years with her current employers. After her two-year contract ended, she asked her employers for a transfer, but they asked her to stay for another year as they were not able to find a new helper during the Covid-19 pandemic. She then agreed to stay another year on the condition that they transfer her to another employer after the three years were up.
However, at the end of the three-year period, the helper’s employer said they were “not used to transfer(ring) maids if they don’t want to work with them just directly send back to home country”.