Maid who worked for family for 10 years finds another family to work for but employers want her to return to the agency instead

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media asking for advice after her employer of 10 years decided to make things difficult for her.

In an anonymous post to a Facebook support group for domestic helpers, the maid wrote that she had worked for her employers for ten years. When she spoke to her employer about renewing her contract, the former refused but allowed her to find another employer. The helper then managed to find another employer who wanted to directly hire her instead of going through an agency.

However, the maid then wrote: “but my current employer want me return to old agency,instead of direct hire. What should i do. Sometimes,we work for so long,but (some)employer make difficult for us”.

For maids to be transferred directly to a new employer, the current employers need to

1. Send the helper for her 6-monthly medical examination if you have not done so.
2. Log in to our FDW eService to approve the transfer request from the new employer. Please wait for the request which will be emailed to you before you log in to approve it.
3. Pay levy up till the date the new employer issues the Work Permit.Once the new Work Permit is issued, the current one will be automatically cancelled and your levy billing will stop.
4. Cut the cancelled Work Permit card in half and discard it to prevent misuse.

In the comments section, other helpers urged the maid to talk to her current employer and try to convince her to allow for a transfer.

In response, the maid said that after she found a new employer, her current employer said: “hah?u get new employer ready,how about us,how about the house”.

The maid added: “She (her current employer) call the old agency, actually she still want me to continue work with them for another 1 year. But why when i ask her, she said she no need me anymore and ask me to find family. and if i dont renew for another she die2 want to return meto agency”. The maid added that her current employers were not perfect either, just that she did not want to publicly call them out. She worked for 10 years for the family because she liked long-term work as long as her salary was paid on time and she was not ill-treated. The maid added that the work would be similar no matter who her employer.  /TISG