All About Full-Time Maids

[MintyMin]

I was looking at the philippines embassy website, and saw tat for home leave the amount is only SGD110.


Here's the link:
http://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/labor/hsw/oec/

[LOLMum]

we paid for all the necessary expenses because dh and i dont think it is fair for the maid to pay and it is too costly for her. all these $$$ are set by the embassy. doing all the necessary paper work yourself is much cheaper than going thru an agency but you must know the procedures otherwise it is going to be a few trips to the embassy.


the only thing we were worried about was her return to singapore. luckily every year, she returned. but now that we dont have a maid, no more worries for us.

cheers.

[carebear]

lizuan76:

Any website where i can refer to if i want to employ filipino maid directly on my own without going through agency?


I need to know what documents i need to apply.

Thanks

Maybe you can try the notice board at Cold storage supermarket?

[CMF]

lizuan76:

Any website where i can refer to if i want to employ filipino maid directly on my own without going through agency?


I need to know what documents i need to apply.

Thanks

For Philippine requirements, note http://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/labor/hsw/employment-docs/

For Singapore requirements, note http://www.mom.gov.sg/services-forms/Pages/wp-online-fdw.aspx

[Awonder]

Hi,


Thanks all for your advice. Ya, I beckon that I had to pay this sum ultimately. My dh had no issue abt this matter as he wants everything to come out clean and do not want to own my maid anything. Had let my maid know that I had to pay so much for her to come back so that she will appreciate us more, infact she is very surprise abt this payment to their embassy.

[beanstalk]

Awonder:

Hi,


I have a Phillipino maid who had work for me for 2 years and she will be taking her home leave soon. Just learn that I had to pay $285 to the Phillipine Embassy for her home leave and I think its quite a sum and ridiculous too. I mean I dont mind paying the sum but I find that its not fair to us, the employer as why should we pay since she is the one taking the leave and I had to cope w/o her for more than 1 month (she had requested for it), and pay for her 2-way air-ticket too.

Need advice from anyone here who had experience the same situation and I was thinking if I can want her to pay the sum instead.

Thanks.

The sum is for a pass that is valid for 2 years, so if her next leave is say at 1 year, 10 months after, the pass is still valid and you need not pay for it again.

See it as a present to her; it's not her fault that her government has asked for this. She should not be made to pay as she earns alot less than you.

It is better to give her all the necessary documents for returning back without hassle.

[hquek]

Awonder:

Hi,


Thanks all for your advice. Ya, I beckon that I had to pay this sum ultimately. My dh had no issue abt this matter as he wants everything to come out clean and do not want to own my maid anything. Had let my maid know that I had to pay so much for her to come back so that she will appreciate us more, infact she is very surprise abt this payment to their embassy.

It'll be a lot for her to bear, you guys did the right thing (I feel). I'm sure she'll be happy to continue with you since you don't claw back every cent.

:celebrate:

[Awonder]

Hi beanstalk, thanks for the valuable info. We had a cordial relationship with our maid and that is why I can wait for her for 6 weeks to come back. It is really not easy for me cos I had 3 kids, 2 in primary school and a 17 mths old toddler, but we know that she really need so much time to be at her home with her kids too. Moreover, we do not want much hassle employing a new maid again as its not easy to find a good, honest and hardworking one.


Infact, she was worry for me if I can handle all at home, well, I just had to take it in my strike, its also a good chance for me to see how I could handle and probably might not need a maid when my younger one was older.

[lizuan76]

Hi CMF,


Thanks for your link. After reading through, it seems difficult to employ filipino maid directly nowaday

[KSmom8]

My Indon maid has been with me for more than 3 months now. So far, I am relatively pleased with her work and attitude. Recently, I have an issue that is worrying me over the hongbao moneys that were given to her.


Part of the agreement (suggested and enforced by the agent) was that she was not to have any moneys with her to prevent misunderstanding with regard to theft / missing moneys. So far, her salaries (minus loan) have been kept with me ledger style, and we both sign on deposits and withdrawals.

Recently, she passed her hongbao moneys to me for safekeeping, after I reminded her of the agreement. I realised that the amount was lesser than what I knew and expected to be given to her. When questioned on the $10 note that my aunt had given to her, she remarked that she had lost it when she was washing the car. When I questioned her on the need to carry the cash with her, she said she don’t know and that’s why she is passing the money to me for safekeeping. She also brought up (out of the blue) that she won’t buy a handphone cos her salaries in Malaysia was mostly spent on calls. I found her response suspicious and upon probing, she suggested that I go through her belongings. I didn’t want to create unhappiness over the issue, particularly since the hongbao money belongs to her, and didn’t pursue the matter further. Later I realised that the amount of missing money is more than $10, since other relatives’ hongbaos was also unaccounted for.

I am almost certain that she is lying and question her motive for keeping the money. I think that perhaps she wants financial security or has spent it on a handphone (which the agent had forbade her to own). I am disappointed by her lying and it has reminded me once again that maids cannot be trusted. However, my initial thoughts are not to pursue the matter, cos it is her money anyway. Good maids are hard to come by.

Any thoughts on this? How would you handle this?