ok, now again, because I don't agree with you and zzm doesn't mean i am a moron. Or calling names doesn't make anybody smart.x9200 wrote: He is probably referring to a situation when (for example), the maid gets arrested or does some damage abroad, or gets injured and is placed in a hospital so he thinks you may be obliged under SG law to help her.
I am referring to past cases where maids had accidents and the employer was forced to pay for medical costs, and no exemption on that. There are ways to get away with it, but those methods are not right, and morally wrong, in case anybody thinks that it is cast in stone.
As far as MOM Singapore is concerned, while she holds the permit, her employer is her protector/God/whatever. Try disproving that. And until the pass is cancelled, the employer's can't employ another maid. Unless the law has been changed. And work permit conditions aren't the same as EP conditions.
And thanks for quoting the MOM law on 'what happens when the maid disappears'
What MOM doesn't explain is,
What happens in the interim:
a) Employer most likely will be denied employing another maid, good, if the employer - both parents are working and have kids at home.
b) If MOM investigations are inconclusive, employer may be barred from employing a maid, for periods of 12 months to 24 months, or longer - works great, if the employer has kids and both parents are working
c) if the maid decides to accuse the employer of x, y or z as the reason for her running away, again, look up b
And what a few employers found out, the hard way, when the maids decided to take a day trip to Malaysia, there are enough cases where the maid's bf/gf/lover/sponsor/relative/benefactor (whatever) decided she shouldn't work in Singapore anymore, or got too home sick, and armed with the passport, the maid got herself a ticket from Malaysia, and flew home directly. Leaving the employer in lurch
Singapore law, from what I know and dealt with, punishes the employer in most cases. Hence the stories of runaway workers (in case of work permit holders) being hunted and shipped out, like convicts, by the rent-a-cops specialising in worker deportation. If things weren't against the employers, why would employers pay rent-a-cops to ensure the worker has left Singapore, escorting them all the way till immigration and making sure the worker really has been kicked out.
Though westerners interpret the laws as against basic human right etc. etc. from the worker's point of view. Sorry, again, this is Singapore, and that's not the law here.
As for your comment that all agents are crooks, no comments. Probably you have been dealing with the really crooked ones
I know enough employment agents, who turn down employers and maids alike, if they smell something suspicious. And these agents do take efforts to ensure they don't incur demerit points, and insist on the maids being given mobile phones, with instructions to call the agent, should they find they can't cope with the work, or the employer or whatever, and they do have a 24x7 phone available, for the maid and the employer alike, to call.
And some have been in the business so long, I have even commented that they are choosy, and they reply that it is better to do a clean business than focus on money and lose the reputation.
And there are a minority of agents, of course, who don't give a hoot as to what happens, as long as they get their commission - and don't bother if the maid gets abused, or whatever. Who have the interest of the maid as their last thought
MOM does publish the demerit points of agencies, you can find it yourself.
PS: consult a lawyer ? seriously ? for a simple clarification ? Now, from my experience, most lawyers will find ways to part money from you, for advice that may not work for you, whereas a call to the agent will clarify- if the agent has good reputation.
Have a great Weekend. Or whatever is left of the weekend.
