The Employment Inspectorate, Ministry of Manpower conducted an inspection on a confectionery shop, Putri Ayu Nonya Kuey, located at 532 Macpherson Road on 8 January 2002 at 0545am. A total of 5 workers, including 4 Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) were checked. Preliminary investigations revealed that all the 4 Foreign Domestic Workers were deployed to work illegally as bakery assistants, ranging from 2 weeks to 14 months. The Foreign Domestic Workers and their employers are being investigated by the Employment Inspectorate for possible violation of the Employment of Foreign Workers Act.

Since 1999, the Ministry has stepped up its enforcement action to curb the problems of illegal employment and deployment of foreign domestic workers. Between January 2000 and November 2001, a total of 209 FDWs were investigated for illegal employment or deployment activities. Among them, 136 (65%) were found performing non-domestic work, such as stall/shop assistants, general workers, cashiers and waitresses at shops and food establishments. 73 were deployed by their official employers to work in another household or involved in other employment abuses.

Under the Foreign Domestic Workers Scheme, domestic workers are only allowed to perform domestic work for the official employer at the address stated in their work permit cards. The Ministry takes a serious view of employers who deploy their foreign domestic workers to perform non-domestic chores, or to work in another household. Employers who are found to have deployed their foreign domestic workers to work in non-domestic jobs or to work in other households will, upon conviction, be fined up to $5,000 or an imprisonment term not exceeding 6 months, or both. In addition, errant employers will be permanently barred from employing a foreign domestic worker. They also risk losing the $5,000 security deposit with the Ministry.

The Ministry would also like to remind employers not to employ any foreign worker without a valid work pass. The law requires every prospective employer of a foreigner to apply for a work permit or employment pass and to engage the foreigner only if an appropriate work pass has been approved. Any person caught employing foreigners without a valid work pass will be charged in Court. The first-time offender faces a minimum fine equivalent to two years of the foreign worker levy and a maximum fine up to four year’s levy for each foreign worker, or imprisonment of up to one year, or both. For the second and subsequent conviction, the penalty will be a mandatory jail sentence of 1 to 12 months in addition to the above fines.