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Treat maids with dignity

Maids are part of many families here, especially young working adults with needs such as eldercare and childcare for family members. Without helpers, these families would have to cope with attending to household chores and their family members’ needs.

Maids are part of many families here, especially young working adults with needs such as eldercare and childcare for family members. Without helpers, these families would have to cope with attending to household chores and their family members’ needs.

By filling these roles, maids have been crucial to building up fully functioning families. That a maid’s job is a noble one must be recognised, and they must be treated with dignity.

Foreign maids have to make the effort to adapt to our culture, languages, food and system on top of doing their job. (“Maid agencies must ensure maids are fit to work here”; April 15)

As their employers, we have a responsibility to observe and comply with fair and agreed employment terms. Late payment of salary, long working hours with no rest day and non-domestic work demands would be deplorable and should be deterred by law.

The more serious cases of mistreatment are often a combination of causing hurt and degrading verbal abuse. Often, these maids are made to suffer in silence.

We should always send a clear signal that we, as a society, do not condone such behaviour and that the full force of the law would be applied without ambiguity.

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