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FWD doing a business

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p_charu12
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FWD doing a business

Post by p_charu12 » Sun, 19 Jan 2014 11:04 pm

We have recently found out that our Foreign Domestic Worker (FWD) has been dabbling in a business. It's one of those pyramid schemes selling slimming pills. The health risks aside, I want to know if this is legal. I'm aware that she cannot work for anyone else or be asked to help out in a business. My question is - Is she allowed to register and operate such a business on her own while under the work permit? I have also found out that this is pretty common among many girls and they openly sell such slimming medication through their network and on facebook.

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Post by x9200 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 7:42 am

Of course it's illegal.

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Re: FWD doing a business

Post by ecureilx » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 10:37 am

p_charu12 wrote:We have recently found out that our Foreign Domestic Worker (FWD) has been dabbling in a business. It's one of those pyramid schemes selling slimming pills. The health risks aside, I want to know if this is legal. I'm aware that she cannot work for anyone else or be asked to help out in a business. My question is - Is she allowed to register and operate such a business on her own while under the work permit? I have also found out that this is pretty common among many girls and they openly sell such slimming medication through their network and on facebook.
Sorry if my answer is a bit long ..

Now, the operator of this scheme will be upset if you called it Pyramid - they use name like network marketing.. MLM and the likes ..

it's is a hazy area .. (beg to differ with you x9200)

A lot of MLMs, originating from Philippines mainly, are registered legally in Singapore, but have some grey area in allowing them to engage those on WP as that part is illegal .. though they do find ways to legalise it .. like not paying the profit to Singapore, instead remitting to the account in PH .. and the likes .. and engaging them as referrals ... etc. etc .. which is not legally illegal -per se ..

But ... I do feel sorry for the maids who fall for these money grabbing schemes ..

I would suggest let her see the reality - take my experience : many many years ago, I went to buy Herbalife and got sucked in .. and then before I know, the 'upline' introduced me to another scheme (some scheme connected to some senator in PH - First Quadrant - hey, they even have a multi storey bulding etc. as proof of their stability etc. ) and then after a while the same group move to another one and sang the same song "when will you become a millionairre ? we have a few who have become super rich .. who will give testimonials .. " etc. etc . .and then a few months later .. the whole gang moved to another ..

Hey - they do a real brain washing session till I have seen grown up men break down and cry when mentally they are hurt being pushed to the limit - with things like why you want to see your kids grow in poverty .. etc ..

Well, what did I get out of it ? In the first one I got sucked in - First Quadrant, for the membership fee - I got a package of Shoes etc, from their catalogue, then nothing .. I know the upline etc made money ..though my joining fee pretty much paid out for the good I could claim back .. so I didn't loose anything per-se .. for others' I was smarter by then not to get sucked in ..

Now, who gets rich in these schemes ? only the founders and the top most gang ..

Example : I often bump into some of the former members, and once when they were asking me to come and listen with an open heart - I asked "sure, can we go have coffee in Starbucks, on you ?? "

the guy gave me a funny look and said "why you want to spend for expensive coffee ? let's go to Mac .. "

I asked nicely "if you have been minting money, over the past few years, are you telling me you can't even treat an old friend for a nice coffee ??"

he just blurted out that I am very negative person .. and if any of the gang sees me, they avoid me like plague .. even told me I am a bad influence etc . etc... and one even went to the extent of telling a close friend of mine to stay away from me- as I may end up making him poor .. etc. etc.

And, again, 9 out of 10 times, say a gang sells a product A - MLM A, once they know the lot is saturated, they will go to product B, and then bad mouth Product A, and ask all their down lines to move to Product B and then on to Product C .. and sometimes, the guys who do Product A, B or C (the actual owners) maybe the same crowd, hidden in the background ..

That's the reailty ..

Tell your maid, the Guy who was a car technician in Kah Motors is Still working in the same job, almost 10 years after he sold me the First Quadrant program, and on to many MLM but still is depending on his day job ..(or is stashing his millions somewhere .. and not revealing his richness. while getting his hands dirty on engine oil, daily )

And the nurses I know from SGH are still nurses - more than 10 years later .. heck, some learnt the lessons and don't do 'business' while a few still persist with various other businesses ..

And the only male nurse guy who gave up his job and went to Philippines to do MLM full time, is back working in his previous job and so have a few .. back to reality ..

in simple terms, Tell your maid, there is no Get Rich Quick Scheme ..

And.. if that doesn't work, tell her you will fire her .. she may start to focus too much on MLM and forget her day job - after all the uplines can be pretty controlling - if they can make grown up men and women cry -and when Maids earning 300 $ can't pay up the 350 $ signing fee - they are literally cursed and left in tears - with stuff like "you want to be a maid all your life ? go head .. " and offering the maids a profit sharing plan in lieu of sign-on fee ..

Oh, btw, the owners of the specific MLM I quoted - they are one of the richest, and have gotten only richer .. and won awards for "enhancing the lives of fellow country men .. " etc .. etc .. and they do give extremely passionate speeches as well .. and they only grown richer by the day .. thanks to their many 'Network businesses' ..

in foot note: I remember a friend of mine, who got totally sold in these Network marketing, and was one day swearing he will never work another day, once he reach the millionaire's club and saw all the signs in the right direction. .

last month, he wanted to borrow 50 $ for me .. that's the fact ..

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Re: FWD doing a business

Post by x9200 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:22 pm

ecureilx wrote:A lot of MLMs, originating from Philippines mainly, are registered legally in Singapore, but have some grey area in allowing them to engage those on WP as that part is illegal .. though they do find ways to legalise it .. like not paying the profit to Singapore, instead remitting to the account in PH .. and the likes .. and engaging them as referrals ... etc. etc .. which is not legally illegal -per se ..
If they do any other job than what they supposed to do as FDW including anything outside of the household they are registered under ,it is illegal. It does not matter whether they are paid to some doggy accounts or not. You even need a permit to do volunteering job.

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Post by Sergei82 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:47 pm

How about Avon cosmetics? They use MLM only. :)
But I think, it's just an exception.

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Re: FWD doing a business

Post by ecureilx » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:50 pm

x9200 wrote:If they do any other job than what they supposed to do as FDW including anything outside of the household they are registered under ,it is illegal. It does not matter whether they are paid to some doggy accounts or not. You even need a permit to do volunteering job.
i know you meant "DODGY" .. the bigger point here is enforcement. . unlike catching a maid doing part time cleaning work outside her employer's place .. enforcement for MLM et al is pretty tough ..

for the point about needing permit to volunteer, well, If so, maybe the likes of TWC2, HOME, Bayanihan and the likes are all violating some serious law ..

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Post by the lynx » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 1:00 pm

I don't think you need a permit to do voluntary work for charity for EP, WP, SPass holders...

But to be placed here as volunteers exclusively, yeah, that one requires permit.

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Post by x9200 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 1:44 pm

the lynx wrote:I don't think you need a permit to do voluntary work for charity for EP, WP, SPass holders...

But to be placed here as volunteers exclusively, yeah, that one requires permit.
Why do you think if you have one of the passes you could work in another place if this was for free? I am not saying this is not the case but I don't see the logic. It would be a hole in the system.

@ecureilx, lack of enforcement does not make anything legal.

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Post by x9200 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 1:51 pm

Sergei82 wrote:How about Avon cosmetics? They use MLM only. :)
But I think, it's just an exception.
I think what counts is what is it in reality. I am not familar with Avon but again, if somebody de facto works in Singapore s/he needs a permit and with one exception the permits are place/job specific.

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Post by ecureilx » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 2:37 pm

x9200 wrote:@ecureilx, lack of enforcement does not make anything legal.
I am not saying it is legal - though MLM cases are next to impossible to enforce / prosecute .. and AVON is purely MLM, as is Herbalife (to quote some well known MLM products .. )

And if you take Herbalife, not many are locals doing it..

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Post by Sergei82 » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 4:05 pm

At least Avon is manufacturing something, Herbalife is just scamming out usual vitamins and supplements at astronomical price. I once was at Sentosa and saw unusual event (I was just passing by): shake party!!! Wth, there was music and those people were drinking that stuff while dancing! :shock:

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Post by ecureilx » Mon, 20 Jan 2014 4:17 pm

Sergei82 wrote:At least Avon is manufacturing something, Herbalife is just scamming out usual vitamins and supplements at astronomical price. I once was at Sentosa and saw unusual event (I was just passing by): shake party!!! Wth, there was music and those people were drinking that stuff while dancing! :shock:
herbalife scamming ? oh no .. they are really into some scientific stuff, like cellular nutrition .. etc .. not supplements, they are food-replacements .. there you go ..

Maybe your six pack may come from Herbalife ... if you look carefully !!!!!!!!!!

I know people who lost weight and have been weight free for years, though I also know a few who didn't feel the difference .. the core concept of Herbalife - well, it has sold enough for them to sponsor some foot ball team ..

Back to p_charu12 : did you try telling the maid that you got her to Singapore to work for you, and not for other things, and she is free to go ?? Well, forget the legal stuff, that may really work ..

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