SINGAPORE: A domestic helper in Singapore is seeking help and advice after nearly a year with an employer she says pays her the lowest basic salary and makes her cover food and household supplies out of her own pocket. Her account, shared in a Facebook group for direct-hire transfer helpers, lays out a pattern of delayed wages, long hours, and mounting physical and mental exhaustion.
“I really need advice. I’ve been working for my employer for almost a year,” she wrote, before listing what she described as ongoing problems at the workplace. In her first point, she said, “Less than 3 months during which I’ve been working here, I’ve bought all my groceries COMPLETELY with my own money until today. I’ve bought snacks, bread, tea, and coffee, even toiletries myself since the beginning when I arrived, while I get the lowest basic salary.”
She added that while she initially used the household cooking ingredients with permission, the arrangement fell apart later. “Previously, I took cooking ingredients with their permission, but they complained a lot because they were buying for Ahma (grandmother), and my mistake was to give in and buy cooking ingredients for myself. They then said to stop buying cooking ingredients for me.”
Beyond daily expenses, she alleged that her pay did not arrive on time. “They paid my salary very slowly, more than a month [late],” she said. The long wait for wages, she implied, made it harder to cope with out-of-pocket spending on food and supplies.
Her working hours, she said, regularly stretched late into the night. “My work schedule is very busy, lasting until 11 pm or even later every day, even though I try to manage my time wisely, and it’s very difficult to take a break during the day, even just to sit and have a coffee.” The toll, she claimed, was visible. “I’m very tired, I lost more than 6kg of weight before the medical [checkup]. First time medical, I lost 6kg.”
Even on rest days, the work did not stop. “I still work until late at night even though it’s my day off. I work very hard to be perfect because all my employers are too fussy, and it makes me mentally and physically exhausted,” she added.
Household costs were another sticking point. “I also always buy cleaning things [supplies] to clean the house, even though I tell them [employer] before they run out,” she said, suggesting repeated purchases without reimbursement.
According to the helper, raising her concerns politely also went nowhere. “My employer did not make any changes at all after I expressed my complaint nicely,” she wrote. While she wants to change employers, she fears the consequences. “I want to change employers, but I have a [previous] bad record because I couldn’t finish the contract before.”
Her post drew swift responses from group members, many urging her to protect herself and document everything. One commenter wrote, “In 3 months, you’ll already know what’s happening inside the work site. You don’t have to push yourself when you’re mentally and physically drained.”
Another was direct about expenses: “Don’t buy their cleaning supplies to clean their house. If they don’t want to buy it, then you clean without them. Better to leave the country and go home than work with them. You work to earn money, not to buy things for a stupid employer. Go ask for a transfer at your agency, or go back to your country and reapply.”
Several advised her to seek official help. “Report to MOM (Ministry of Manpower), they will give you a suggestion,” one said, while another cautioned, “Do not transfer or resign without reporting your case to MOM. Your future employer must see the MOM case records to know that you have a valid reason for terminating your contract. Your agency might not want you to report to MOM, but you must insist so that you can explain your job history.”
That commenter also urged her to keep evidence, including “the dates when you received your salary late, the cleaning supplies which you bought, but your boss didn’t reimburse you,” and “the food which you bought for yourself when your boss is supposed to provide you with three meals.”
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Others focused on her well-being. “My suggestion, leave them. Life with this kind of employer will slowly kill you by [ruining] your mental health, physical health, and more,” one wrote, adding, “You deserve to be happy. Find a job that treats you as a human being.”
Read related: Maid says, ‘My employer doesn’t allow me to buy and cook my own food even with my own money because she said I waste her gas’
