Explainer: What employers should do if their maids want to be sent home

SINGAPORE — A maid who was filmed dipping a toddler’s hand in a hot pot in a video that went viral this week apparently told her employer that she wanted to go home to Myanmar.

The mother of the 16-month-old girl told TODAY on Wednesday (Jan 22) that the domestic helper had committed the act believing it might enable her to go home — and had at least once before complained of stomach aches and asked to be repatriated.

The 30-year-old helper had started working for the household on Dec 7, only a month before the incident.

The case begs the question: How should employers and their helpers communicate in the event that the employee wants to leave?

TODAY explains what employers should do, as well as how they can mediate amicably with their helpers should they want to leave before their employment contract expires.

STEPS EMPLOYERS NEED TO TAKE

First, should a helper want to leave, employers should explain the terms of the helper’s employment contract — which typically lasts two years and is drafted by the employment agency the helper is from.

According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) website, should maids choose to end their employment contracts early, they need to either serve a notice period — the duration is settled between the employer and helper — or pay compensation in lieu of notice.

The compensation in lieu of notice is the money equivalent of the salary that the helper would have earned during the required notice period, paid by the helper to the employer.

“You should explain to your (helper) that she is contractually bound to serve the notice period, and discuss with your (helper) to find a mutually agreed solution,” the website states.

However, if the helper is unable to fulfil the above terms, employers are “encouraged to exercise compassion where appropriate, and find a mutually agreed solution,” the website added.

This can include a shorter notice period, or waiving part of the compensation in lieu of notice.

Once the decision to terminate the employment contract is final, the employer has to cancel the foreign domestic worker’s work permit within seven days of the mutually agreed last day of work.

Employers are also responsible for sending their helpers home, and must pay for her flight out of the country, which has to depart within 14 days of the cancellation of the work permit.

MOM stated previously that employers have to foot out the flight costs so as to “prevent a situation where foreign domestic workers, upon termination of their employment, are left stranded here with no other means to return home”.

Should employers fail to cancel the work permit, or fail to send their helper home, they may forfeit their helper’s security bond.

A security bond is a S$5,000 binding pledge by the employer to be paid to the Government if they or the helper breaks the law or work permit conditions.

Employers who need an immediate replacement helper due to urgent needs such as caregiving, can opt for the Advance Placement Scheme.

Those who qualify for the scheme can hire a helper within a few days by accessing a pool of helpers already here, and available through participating employment agencies, rather than take more time to hire a helper still overseas.

To qualify for the scheme, employers must be first eligible for the Concessionary Levy Scheme, which subsidises the levies — a fee paid to the Government to regulate the number of helpers here — of households where employers live with a young child below 16 or an elderly person who is at least 67.

'40 TO 50 PER CENT' OF MEDIATION ATTEMPTS WORK

Mr John Gee, president of non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said that there are many reasons that helpers want to go home — “usually more than one in each case”.

“They may find the work too much and the employer too demanding, they may feel isolated in the employer's house, especially if they have no days off, and they may also feel homesick,” he said.

“There are cases where a worker had been working in Singapore for some time, and a family crisis comes up, but the worker does not think the employer will be sympathetic to them leaving and returning after they've dealt with it.”

Ms K Jayaprema, president of the Association of Employment Agencies (AEAS), said due to the inconvenience of an early departure, these issues are not easy for the helper to raise with their employers.

“(Employers can) speak to her, try to understand her problem, find out why a domestic worker wants to go back,” she said. “If she can’t take the stress, they can work with her on the timetable, make the work environment a little better, try to communicate more with her to make her feel part of the family.”

She added that employers can also seek assistance from their helper’s employment agencies, who can act as a middleman to bridge language barriers and communicate both parties’ intentions better.

Of all mediation attempts, about “40 to 50 per cent” end up in helpers deciding to stay, Ms Jayaprema said.

She added that should helpers be unwilling to talk about their problems, employers can look for telltale signs that they are not happy in their work environment. These include: Frequently calling home, loss of appetite, moody appearance and emotional outbursts such as frequent crying.

A helper may also intentionally make mistakes or refuse to follow instructions in a bid to irritate the employer into letting her go, Ms Jayaprema added.

She said that although employers may feel indignant that the maids they hired do not fulfil the contracts, they have to view the arrangement as beyond a monetary transaction.

“As much as the employer has the right to terminate, a domestic helper also has the right to resign,” she said. “Employers should try to help the maids settle in better, but should not be forcing them to stay on.”

She added that employment agencies have a blacklisting practice, where they will not serve employers whom are “difficult or have a bad hiring history”.