MOM to Conduct 200 House Visits Each Month to Monitor Well-Being of FDWs

On Monday (26 Apr), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) announced that they will begin visiting houses at random to check up on the wellbeing of foreign domestic workers. 

They also announced that they will be continuing physical interviews of first-time foreign domestic workers from May onwards, which will include all first-time foreign domestic workers by the end of this year. 

At the present moment, these interviews only include first-time workers that are randomly selected. 

Here’s all that you need to know. 

MOM to Conduct 200 House Visits Each Month to Monitor Well-Being of FDWs

According to MOM’s director of engagement for the foreign manpower management division, Mr Tan Shu Xiang, the ministry is currently evaluating ways to prevent the abuse of foreign domestic workers. 

At the same time, the ministry has begun house visits and increased the scope of their interviews in a bid to better support foreign domestic workers. 

Mr Tan said, “It’s important that we take good care of our migrant domestic workers while they are working in Singapore.” 

He said that employers, employment agencies, and the ministry’s community partners would need to work together to achieve this. 

MOM is planning to do 200 random house visits per month to check the working and living environments of foreign domestic workers. This figure may be increased in the future. 

Employers will be informed one week in advance about the house visit. If they do not wish to comply with the visit, they will need to accompany their foreign domestic workers to the ministry’s office for a physical interview. 

According to Mr Li Junjie, MOM’s senior assistant director of enforcement planning, employers will not be prevented from listening in during house visits. However, employers will be prohibited from intervening. 

If it is observed that the employer’s presence has an effect on the domestic worker, Mr Li stated that they may request for the employer to leave for a moment, or ask the domestic worker to come out of the house so that they may interact personally with her.

Furthermore, if mistreatment of a foreign domestic worker has been revealed, Mr Li affirmed that a police report will be made immediately, and instances of non-payment of salary will be investigated immediately as well. 

The ministry has carried out 100 such house visits since 5 April. According to Mr Tan, most of the foreign domestic workers who have been interviewed were experiencing few problems with their employment.

However, there were certain cases in which a foreign domestic worker reported that they were suffering from a lack of rest or had to deal with harsh admonishment from employers. 

According to Mr Tan, MOM will intervene to mediate such cases. 

Resumption of In-Person Interviews for FDWs 

In addition to the house visits, MOM will also continue in-person interviews for first-time foreign domestic workers at the office of the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) starting next month onwards. 

The CDE had been carrying out these interviews to find out how foreign domestic workers are adjusting to life in Singapore, but these interviews had been moved online last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

These interviews are usually conducted within three to six months after a first-time foreign domestic worker has begun employment. 

It used to be only for a randomly selected group of foreign domestic workers, but MOM plans to increase the scope of the interviews to include all first-time foreign domestic workers by the end of this year. 

They have set a target of speaking to about 2,000 workers per month.

Feature Image: Facebook (Singapore Ministry of Manpower)