Helper wants only part of her monthly salary now

[bentobox]

Thanks for all the responses! All I needed to know was if it was illegal for me to keep some money for her. And apparently it is not.. so I got my question answered!

[ecureilx]

Thanks for all the responses! All I needed to know was if it was illegal for me to keep some money for her. And apparently it is not.. so I got my question answered!

it is ILLEGAL FOR YOU TO HOLD HER SALARY, or PART OF IT .. if she gets proper advice from one of her friends of one of the dozen or so NGOs, she can put you in trouble

The good news is, almost all maids show proper judgement before doing such stuff, and don't about wildly accusing that their employer is stealing (oh, a few years ago more than a dozen case of maids not having been paid by employers was in the news .. and often the employers simply ran out of money due to many reasons and couldn't pay the maid back .. and Singapore was branded as another middle-eastern country where such stuff happen quite often, the govt fixed it pretty swiftly by making it illegal for employers to hold maid's salary .. )

Doesnt' mean you should expose yourself to such problems and MOM is emphasising the rights of maids and if things are a bit sour, it can hurt you .. .. and it is proper for MOM to ensure the maids know their rights ..

You did take up the MOM test right ?

[x9200]

Once again, what is illegal is to pay her less so she owns less. Example, (1) she earns $450, you pay her $250, saying the remaining 200 you deducted as this is what you paid for her insurance (whatever) - this is illegal; (2) you pay her $250 and put 200 aside for her so she still owns $450 - this is IMHO legal at least from the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act perspective.

[ex-pat]

Hi there!

I don't know if this is a common problem... but my helper wants me to give her only part of her monthly salary ($250) now. She wants me to keep the rest of her salary ($150) until the end of the year. Apparently she has a habit of spending all her money at hand, and she wants to save enough money to buy her children a laptop! From what I have read and understood of MOM rules, it is illegal for me to keep any part of her payments... so do you guys have any suggestion?

Also, when and how much annual bonus do you give your helper? She just started working for me this month. I gave her $50 as bonus for an Indian festival last weekend. I am also planning to give her $50 each for 3 other Indian festivals and her birthday this year.

Thanks in advance![/quote]


I believe part of the $250 is used to send home for her family, and not for her own material needs. In Singapore standard $250 is nothing, even a good shoes cost you more.

It is wrong to keep your maid's money however in your case, since she is willing to let you keep it , then keep it.
Like the other said, open an account in her name, and deposit the amount every month. Keep the passbook but update her from time to time to let her know that you are depositing her money in her account.
Put the agreement in writing in case there will be a misunderstanding in the future . You will never know when your relationship with her turns ugly and report you to the MOM saying you are keeping her money So just be cautious!!

About the extras...normally maids gets equivalent to a month salary every end of the year. For those who works for Chinese they get hong-bao on chinese new year. Some ang moh's are known to be more generous, they give extra money whenever there are parties or relatives coming over to stay plus the generous presents. I know some ang moh employer who even donate used adult/kids clothing ,shoes and toys for the helper's relatives and pay for the shipment.