Dian's Story*

Salary issues

When Dian arrived in Singapore to work, she was told that she would be charged recruitment fees amounting to almost $3800. She was told that she would be given some “pocket money” each month until the recruitment fees had been paid off, after which she would get her full salary.

To her surprise, Dian rarely received any money from her employers. For several of the months that she worked, the employer remitted her salary directly to her family, telling her that she was not allowed to keep any money in Singapore. Even for these months, her salary was delayed and not paid in a timely manner. For the other months of her employment, she was simply not paid.

Overwork and isolation

She was made to work an average of 17 hours daily, beginning her day at 5am and rarely finishing before 10pm. She had to handle the cleaning of a large house, cooking of all meals, and other housework. She was also given gardening duties. She had little time to rest, and if she did not finish her work, she could not rest at all.

Dian did not have any rest days*. Her phone use was also severely restricted, and she could only use it for a limited time once a week. As a result, Dian only found out that her father had passed away a whole week after it had happened. Dian was devastated when she learnt this. Dian was also stressed throughout her employment as she was unable to stay in touch with her family regularly.

Her employment and identity documents, including her passport, employment contract, and work permit were confiscated and kept by her employer.

Outcome

Dian sought assistance at HOME, as she wanted the salary that was owed to her. She was also unable to tolerate her working conditions. After raising her case to the authorities, she was given the salary that was owed to her and returned home.

Recommendations

Isolating practices such as denial of access to mobile phones, and confiscation of identity documents create barriers for MDWs to report illegal and exploitative practices, such as the non-payment of salaries.

While there have been policy changes to allow them to seek timely help, such as the introduction of the monthly mandatory rest day, more can be done to ensure freedom of movement and communication for MDWs, and proactively address exploitative practices:

  • Strictly enforce laws which prohibit employers or agencies from retaining MDWs’ passports and other identity documents;

  • Set guidelines and, eventually, enact laws guaranteeing MDWs’ access to personal communication devices;

  • Increase the number of mandatory rest days and define them as 24 hours;

  • Making it compulsory for employers to pay the salaries of workers through bank transfers and provide workers with a copy of their pay slips.

*This was prior to the mandatory monthly rest day implemented in January 2023.

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