FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS POLICY

FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS POLICY

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(Working in one household): **

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Mr Zaqy Mohamad asked the Minister for Manpower as dual-income families may place their children and their domestic foreign workers (DFW) at their parents' house while they are at work, (a) what is his Ministry's position on this, given that current policy dictates that the DFW works only at the employer's house; and (b) whether there have been any cases of prosecution or disciplinary action taken against such employers.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Under the Work Permit (WP) conditions, foreign domestic workers (FDWs) are only allowed to work for their employers at the address stated in their WP cards. This restriction is necessary as some FDWs had complained that they were being exploited and over-worked by errant employers who required them to take care of two or more households.

However, the Ministry is aware that some employers prefer their FDWs to take care of their children under the supervision of family members, such as parents or parents-in-law, while the employers are at work. For these cases, MOM is prepared to exercise flexibility to allow such an arrangement. However, this must be done with the FDW’s agreement and employers must ensure that their FDWs do not end up having to perform the full load of household chores of both households.

Between January and October 2006, 28 complaints of this nature were made to the Ministry of Manpower. In 16 of the cases, the employer was warned. Three of them were fined and four of them were prosecuted. The remaining five cases are still under investigation.

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