Singaporean neighbours treating their Maid badly - what should I do?

[maid custodian]

Our neighbours - a Singaporean family - are not treating their Filipino maid well.

1) She has only been permitted to go home once in 6 years.  They just don't permit her to go, let alone pay for it, saying they have no money
2) She is only given 1 Sunday per month off (I thought every Sunday was the norm)
3) Public holidays are not granted to her (She had to work all through the new year, as the kids were home and parents were busy working - they do not offer alternative days off to compensate)
4) She sleeps on the Kitchen floor in their 2 bedroom apartment.  2 kids in one room, and parents in the Master.

I already told her to complain to her Maid Agency but she seems reluctant.  I told her this isn't fair and if my corporation refused to give me my holidays, I would complain.  She's worked for them for 6 years.

I know a lot of you might think there's nothing we could do unless she is willing to stand up for herself, but I feel very sorry for her and want to help somehow.  Is there anything I could do?

I've thought about:
- Finding her another job elsewhere / advertising her so that she can get some interviews
- Finding out the name of her Maid Agency and calling them myself

any suggestions??

The kids she minds are loud and painful to deal with and the parents are the ignorant, grunting, monosyllabic type.  They are never around and the kids have looked bored stiff over the holidays.  And now they have a dog which is another thing for her to manage.

thanks for serious advice...

[localmanjames]

Such things are very common in Singapore.

The best thing you can do is to find a new employer for the maid and check if she can change employer easily.

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

There are hundreds of thousands of such cases in Singapore, people don't care about human rights in S'pore.

[maid custodian]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

[localmanjames]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

Have you ever been to developing countries? Not seeing her children for six years is nothing, at least she is sending them money and they can afford to go to school and lead decent lives (by developing countries' standards). Many kids in developing countries starve to death or can't even afford to go to school. And there are no jobs at all in many areas.

Many maids in Singapore have degrees, that tells you how hard it is to find a decent job in their countries even for educated people.

Just don't do anything to sabotage her employment. If you report her employer and she loses her job and has no money to send to her kids or parents, it may be even worse for her!

Nice to see that there are still kind people like you around.

[no laws here]

There was an article back in July 2011 stating that the govt urged employers to give their maids 1 day off to rest, each week.  Apparently it's not the Law here and maid contracts are all different, negotiated directly with the employers.

I find it disturbing that there are no laws protecting these Domestic Workers.

Even if the maids aren't young naive 20-somethings (or worse, underaged like some of the TV programs have exposed), they are still naive in the sense that they come from underprivileged backgrounds and as the PP pointed out, are basically desperate for the $$$ so will put up with treatment that isn't nice, but is a LOT better than staying in The Philippines.

[Here We Go]

OP, while it is obvious that you mean well, it is probably advisable (from the maid in question's perspective) that you mind your own business. Causing a scene will only harm her by cutting off her source of income. Please try to control your urge to "do the right thing" and think of her instead.

[She's an adult]

If she's got a problem with it she should be able to deal with it herself.  She sounds like she does get some time off - the maid who lives opposite us is always there on a Sunday, I've never seen her going out on her own apart from shopping.........but she's been with the family for years (at least 10 years that I know of and maybe longer as the eldest child is about 14 now) and she's still there so it can't be that bad.

It's a different mind-set in Asia to what most of us from elsewhere are used to and she might think that one weekend off a month is OK compared to what some of her friends may get.

But the thing is, if she's moaning about it then it's up to her to sort it out - she must be what,  27 at least (assuming she was older than 21 when she moved here) - she's not a baby and if she's talking to you, then it sounds like she isn't one of these 'imprisoned' maids who end up having secret conversations through the fence to the maid next door and get grief if the family find out.

She could go off on her one day off and talk to the maid agency or there's a charity called Home who deal with maid issues - if she's got an issue she could talk to them.

Best thing to do is give her the options and leave it up to her - find out about Home and tell her about them - I'm not sure if they only deal with abuse of maids - she doesn't sound like she's being abused, but you could let her know about them anyway and she can take it from there.

[jk estra]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

Why don't you just mind your own business ?

[NMS1]

As others have said, you should probably just keep out of it. Her conditions are pretty typical of what a lot of maids here experience. There is still no requirements for a weekly day-off, although it is likely to be introduced this year giving the hints being dropped in the media. Public holidays are not given to hardly any maids either.

Her sleeping arrangements may be out of necessity if the family doesn't have a spare room.

She probably does not have any grounds on which to complain to her agency hence her reluctance. Maybe she could raise the issue of not going home for her holidays at the end of each contract but are you sure that they didn't pay her compensation?

Just steer clear. She can look after herself.

[leavethemtoit]

The locals don't have a concept of treating humans with dignity, it is beyond them intellectually and emotionally. For the vast majority there just isnt the IQ or the EQ. Life is just money and they see poorer people, especuially foreigners, as sub human. Best to just leave them to it, if you interfere they will probably attack you in some way or they will use the interference as an excuse fior some anti-foreigner rant.  You will be looking over your shoulder until you move away.

[to : jk estra]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

Why don't you just mind your own business ?

Why don't yuou mind your own business?

This is an expat forum, go back to the one for the locals where your views may be of interest.

You aren't wanted here.

[Shameful]

locals here do whatever the government tell them. If the government says its not mandatory for their helpers to have the same employment rights as singaporean workers then they will see that as an opportunity to exploit people the same way the singaporean government exploits singaporeans by keeping wages low with the influx of foreign workers.

As the emerging economies standard of living increases this practice will soon become a thing of the past for many singaporean families that abuse the rights of other human beings.

[estra]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

Why don't you just mind your own business ?

Why don't yuou mind your own business?

This is an expat forum, go back to the one for the locals where your views may be of interest.

You aren't wanted here.

I am an expat d!ckhead. By the way, it's "you", not "yuou". are you sure you're on the right forum ?

[agreed]

I am an expat d!ckhead.

No argument there.

[lololololololo]

The maid may be sleeping on the floor and may be deprived of her public holidays off days, but if you put yourself in her shoes, those are minor things compared to abject poverty and unemployment back home. Maybe she is still sending money to repay her agent (who brought her to Singapore) or to her parents so she cannot afford to go home?

thanks :-) 

I'm sure this is the case - it's always that comparison back to what life could be like, that keeps us contented with our lot in life.   Whatever she puts up with here surely must be better than back home.  But I want her to see that she deserves more and then get more for herself.

I will find out more about any constraints that may exist to her shifting to a new employer.  She has 2 children of her own back home - a 15 yr old and a 7 yr old. Imagine not seeing your own baby for 6 years! 

Why don't you just mind your own business ?

Why don't yuou mind your own business?

This is an expat forum, go back to the one for the locals where your views may be of interest.

You aren't wanted here.

I am an expat d!ckhead. By the way, it's "you", not "yuou". are you sure you're on the right forum ?

Obviously you are a d1ckhead, no need to tell us. Whats more, you're a small minded d1ckhead.

Now, go to another forum, local or not, who cares, you just aren't wanted here.