My relative’s maid while at HOME, had excursions to Sentosa and all types of activites.
The sad fact is, the maid can just lie and accuse you the employer of abuse. Even if dr examination finds nothing…the investigations go on for months…meanwhile, the maid is having a vacation free food and lodging. All this time, you are banned from getting another maid. When the case against you (the employer) is cleared, you still buy her a ticket to go home.
You cannot charge the maid in court for lying, unless the maid hurt herself and accuse you of the bruise, burn etc, then it will become a court case…in the end, she might not be charge or convicted. Hence, few months later, she can still apply to come to Singapore to work.
The maids know all these tricks.
I think MOM should stop transfers and make it compulsory for ex sin maid to have reference letters with direct employer’s contact.
Most maids have skyped and know what employer’s needs are, they are free to accept or decline the job. Same for employer. If the maid is really crappy after a few months, then employer can send her home with a letter, maybe a form from MOM, stating the review of this maid. If she wants to come to Singapore again, she has to produce this letter. She cannot just simply claim she is ex sin and wants a higher pay.
MOM says we can write in as referee, I’ve emailed them twice, I never got a reply. I think it’s just lip service.
Now the maids are paid well, if they are not happy with their job, they can resign and pay for their own ticket. This no transfer rule alone will make them think twice about doing funny business to make you send her back to agency.
MOM can schedule maids interviews every 6 months to ensure there is fair treatment. I don’t see why MOM can’t help us this way with no transfer rule.
No transfer rule might cost MOM losing a lot of levy, maid agents make less money…will they help us and be ok with losing some money?