Labour Rights #2 - Straits Times Article #1 - Compulsory day off in new maid contracts

Published Date: 21 July 2006

By Radha Basu

EMPLOYMENT contracts for maids will soon spell out that they be given a compulsory day off every month - or cash in lieu.

This will apply to contracts between maids and employers that are signed or renewed from Sept 15.

The contract, aimed at protecting maids from abuse, was unveiled yesterday by CaseTrust and the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore, which accredit 500-odd maid agencies.

The two bodies have also drawn up a second document - a standard service agreement binding employers and maid agencies, which requires transparency in fees payable and refund policies.

All accredited agencies have agreed to use both contracts from Sept 15.

Till now, contracts between employers and Singapore's 150,000 maids have been inconsistent. Reports of maids being denied days off or sufficient rest and food have surfaced, drawing ire from maid welfare advocates and human rights groups.

Calls for a day off to be enshrined in law have been made, but the Government has said Singapore laws provide enough protection, and urged maid agencies and accreditation bodies to design a standard contract to make rest days and other terms an industry standard.

Consumer Association of Singapore president Yeo Guat Kwang called the two documents 'a big step forward' in wiping out ambiguities about hiring maids.

The contract entitles maids to between one and four days off a month; if the maid gives up her day off, she must be paid.

Maid welfare advocates say the contract is a right move, but see more room to tighten some of the rules.

The president of civil society group Transient Workers Count Too, Braema Mathi, said the contract offered too many options - and thus, too much manoeuvring room - 'which may turn into loopholes for recalcitrant employers'. For example, she said, the clause on accommodation offers three options on where a maid will sleep - in the children's room, in a separate room and 'others', so 'an employer could make his maid sleep in the living room and still not breach the contract', she said.

Ms Bridget Lew, who heads the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, pointed out the contract still offers less protection than the law can, and that domestic maids are not guaranteed rest days under the Employment Act, unlike most other workers.

'Enforcing a contract will be far more difficult than enforcing a law,' she said.

Member of Parliament Madam Halimah Yaacob, another maid welfare advocate, said that even with the contract, a maid would find it tough to go up against her boss 'because the power relations are uneven'.

Mr Yeo, however, said rogue employers were more the exception than the rule, and that the Manpower Ministry would come down hard on that minority.