All About Full-Time Maids

[cmm]

MMM:

parentof3:

Is the maid entitle pay during her home leave? I have already paid for her return air tickets. Just want to check what's the norm.

In our case, yes and it is also listed in the employment contract.

If maid decide not to go home for home leave, and we pay her the amount meant for the air ticket - do we also pay her for the 15 days? :? Then will get double pay??

[autumnbronze]

cmm:

If maid decide not to go home for home leave, and we pay her the amount meant for the air ticket - do we also pay her for the 15 days? :? Then will get double pay??

Hi cmm,

Best that you check the rules/conditions in the employement contract. It shd be stated there

[minnie2004]

Hi, my finipino maid is asking me for a photocopy of her passport so she can borrow money from "SSS". Has anyone heard about it? According to her, it’s some kind of insurance company in the Philippines and it lends out pesos. Should I be worried about this? I told her she can’t use our address as I don’t want any loan sharks/creditors to be knocking on our doors.

[ooptimizer]

Better be safe, I won’t give if I were you. She can always "borrow" money from you, payback with salary.

[peapot]

CMM, my previous filipino maid wanted to stay in Singapore so I paid her the air-ticket (to plus return) and also she gets her normal monthly salary on top of that. Its "paid" leave. Air-ticket is air-ticket, salary is salary. That’s what the rules say. Sigh! Its much like when you go on leave, you still get paid. So its the same for them. Why we still need to pay for her air-ticket? Because she’s under work-permit pass and consider low-wage worker unlike S-pass holder who earns $1800 a month where they will need to pay for their own ticket home.


I know heartache but if the maid is great we don’t mind paying for it but if she turns out to be maid from hell, we probably will feel more heartache.

[peapot]

minnie2004, there might be such a service available but would we want to take the risk? If she wants to borrow money, she will need to think of other ways! From the passport, some crooks are able to trace the employer address in their own country and we will never know!


I agree with ooptimizer, you can advance her salary then she do not need to resort to borrowing from dubious source.

[shine_fs]

minnie2004:

Hi, my finipino maid is asking me for a photocopy of her passport so she can borrow money from \"SSS\". Has anyone heard about it? According to her, it's some kind of insurance company in the Philippines and it lends out pesos. Should I be worried about this? I told her she can't use our address as I don't want any loan sharks/creditors to be knocking on our doors.

How long she is here? Smart to know how to borrow money from \"SSS\"(which I didn't hear b4). You can call up your maid agency and check with them. Or ask her to borrow money from the maid agency instead to borrow money from \"SSS\".

[hquek]

peapot:

Yes, its paid leave unless she decided to stay home for 3 weeks instead of the usual 15 days then you can discuss with her on no pay leave after the 15th day. In Singapore, employer pays everything!!! Maid breaks things in the house, we pay. Maid runs away, we pay. Maid got pregnant or get into trouble, we pay. Maid falls sick, we pay. Maid goes home, we pay. Maid wants to renew contract, we pay for renwal of passport. Maid breaks contract, we also pay for new maid because replacement also means money interms of insurance etc, etc.


Now...did I miss out anything else??

methinks you forget, maid clothing employers pay. I find it interesting that they usually come with mini bags....and employers will start buying clothes and all for them so they go home with huge bulging bags.

maid makan also.

BTW, I wonder....during her absence, if we engage part time cleaners, can claim back money or not....since she is not performing the work she was meant to. (Sorry, just being sarcastic here). I used to give my ex-maid 15 days off - unpaid leave (that time the new contract wasn't drawn up). Feel that it's extremely unfair to employers....we got to take leave, engage extra help....and all this time, they happily go on home leave and we have to pay for it.

[2ppaamm]

hquek:

BTW, I wonder....during her absence, if we engage part time cleaners, can claim back money or not....since she is not performing the work she was meant to. (Sorry, just being sarcastic here). I used to give my ex-maid 15 days off - unpaid leave (that time the new contract wasn't drawn up). Feel that it's extremely unfair to employers....we got to take leave, engage extra help....and all this time, they happily go on home leave and we have to pay for it.

You can claim back your maid levy from MOM. Not sure of the process, but if you can prove that your maid was not in country during a certain period, you can get your refund. It also applies if you travel with your maid.

Well, that was what I did 9 years ago. Not sure if there's still this rule. Check with your agent/ MOM website.

[hquek]

2ppaamm:

You can claim back your maid levy from MOM. Not sure of the process, but if you can prove that your maid was not in country during a certain period, you can get your refund. It also applies if you travel with your maid.

Well, that was what I did 9 years ago. Not sure if there's still this rule. Check with your agent/ MOM website.

Hi 2ppaamm, yes, I believe this still applies. The process is really easy, and though I retained copies of the airticket and check in slip, I've never been asked to produce it.

Was just musing that typically, when my maid finish contract with me and it's time for home leave, I will give her a bonus depending on how she's performed - make her happy to continue working. I just don't like that it's mandated.

Then again, I know there are employers who will stinge on everything and try to get the maid to bear that which is not their responsibility.