Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information & The Arts, #36-00, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963, Tel: 3757794/5

MINISTRY OF LABOUR

PRESS RELEASE

EMPLOYERS OF FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS PROSECUTED FOR ILLEGAL DEPLOYMENT

From Jan to Sep 96, the Ministry of Labour's Labour Inspectorate conducted 53 inspections on residential homes and other premises to investigate into the illegal employment of foreign domestic workers. Arising from these inspections, a total of 59 foreign domestic workers were found to be illegally deployed.

2 The Ministry's investigations revealed that employers deployed their foreign domestic workers:

(i) to work as domestic workers for relatives or friends who were not eligible to employ a foreign domestic worker;

(ii) to work for more than one household;

(iii) to work as a non-domestic worker at retail shops, food stalls or factories operated by the employers themselves, their relatives or friends.

3 For the first nine months of 1996, MOL prosecuted 26 employers and abettors in Court for the deployment of foreign domestic workers. All were penalised with fines ranging from $2,000 to $10,800 for the offences.

4 The Employment of Foreign Workers Act (EFWA) requires all employers to obtain work permits for their foreign workers (including foreign domestic workers). As stated in the Act, the work permit is valid only in respect of the trade or occupation and the employer and the foreign worker specified on the work permit card. Hence, a foreign domestic worker is only allowed to work for the employer specified on her work permit card and performing domestic work.

5 The Ministry warns employers of foreign domestic workers that it is illegal to deploy their workers to work in occupations not in accordance with their work permit or for other employers. Such acts would undermine efforts to regulate and manage the large pool of foreign workers in Singapore.

6 Action will be taken against both the legal and illegal employers of the foreign domestic workers and they would be charged in Court for committing the offence. Upon conviction, the penalty for illegal deployment of a foreign domestic worker is a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment of up to one year or to both.

7 In addition, the security deposit of $5,000 furnished by the employer will be forfeited for the infringement of the conditions in the security bond. The employer and his spouse will also be permanently barred from employing foreign workers in future.

8 The penalty for employing a foreign worker without a valid work permit is a minimum fine equivalent to two years of the foreign workers levy and a maximum fine up to four years levy, or imprisonment up to one year or both. Abettors of the illegal employment offence will be liable for the same penalty as the errant employer upon conviction. For the second and subsequent conviction, the errant employer will be punished with a mandatory jail sentence of 1 to 12 months in addition to the above fines.

Encl: Details of a case whereby an employer of a foreign domestic worker had deployed two foreign domestic workers to work as general workers in a boutique (Annex).

Date: 21 Nov 96

Annex

On 25 Jun 96, the Ministry's Labour Inspectorate conducted an inspection at "Dress Inn Boutique", Blk 69 Toa Payoh Lorong 4, #03-371, S (310069) and found two Filipino workers working as general workers. The said boutique was owned by Mdm Phua Chnay Yin of Blk 18 Hougang Ave 3, #10-175, S(530018).

2 The Ministry's investigations revealed that one of the two Filipino workers was issued with a work permit to work for Phua Chnay Yin as a domestic worker. Since her first day of work, Phua Chnay Yin had deployed her foreign domestic worker to work at the boutique. The foreign worker worked from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm from Mondays to Saturdays. Her duties at the boutique was cleaning the shop premises, ironing and sewing clothes.

3 The other Filipino worker was also issued with a work permit to work as a domestic worker. She was sent to Phua Chnay Yin on a trial basis by her employment agency, Goodman Trading Company. Phua Chnay Yin deployed her to work at the boutique. Her duties at the boutique were similar to Mdm Phua's foreign domestic worker.

4 On 19 Nov 96, Phua Chnay Yin was charged for employing a foreign worker without a valid work permit and for deploying her own foreign domestic worker to work in an occupation which was not in accordance with the conditions of her work permit. She pleaded guilty to both charges and was fined a total of $14,900. The fine imposed for the illegal deployment of her domestic worker was $5,000 which was the maximum sentence provided for the offence.

5 The manager of the employment agency, Goodman Trading Company, who had arranged for the Filipino worker to work in Phua Chnay Yin's boutique was also charged for abetting the illegal employment. The manager of the employment agency, Mdm Owyong Lye Poh Irene, pleaded guilty to the charge on 5 Nov 96 and was fined $9,900.

Date: 21 Nov 96