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Workplace Abuses in Singapore

It is $588 [U.S.$347] for an Indonesian, $598 [U.S.$353] for a Filipina.  You want a Filipina because she speaks English.  For Filipinas there is usually a six, seven month salary deduction [debt payment], for Indonesians there is eight months deduction.  Filipinas need a day off once a month, Indonesians don’t need a day off.  The salary for Filipinas is S$320 [U.S.$189] per month, for Indonesians, 280 [U.S.$165] per month.  You get one replacement free, three months for a Filipina, six months for an Indonesian.
—Employment agent explaining the packages available to prospective employers, Singapore, March 5, 2005

Deaths

Another foreign domestic worker fell from the fourth storey while hanging out the laundry on Tuesday. She was taken to the Changi General Hospital. A hospital spokesman said she was still in intensive care but was “stable and conscious.” The maid, an Indonesian in her 30s, was said to have fallen head first out of her employer's Tampines flat around 6:40 a.m.
—“Two fell this week,” The New Paper, February 20, 2004

Between 1999 and 2005, at least 147 migrant domestic workers died from workplace accidents or suicide, most by jumping or falling from residential buildings. Of these, 122 were Indonesian domestic workers who jumped or fell to their deaths.¹⁰⁴ One Sri Lankan domestic worker jumped to her death in September 2005.¹⁰⁵ Information provided by the Philippines embassy did not specify whether any deaths of Filipina domestic workers were due to falling from a height, but noted that between 2001 and 2005, fifteen Filipina domestic workers died from workplace accidents and nine from suicide.¹⁰⁶

Although there are no directly comparable statistics, the Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong reported that thirty-two domestic workers died in Hong Kong between 2003 and June 2005 for reasons including illness, accidents, and suicides. Of these, they classified seventeen as suicides.¹⁰⁷ In the same period, forty-three Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore died by falling from buildings. These differences are particularly striking given Singapore employs approximately 60,000 Indonesian domestic workers while Hong Kong employs more than 90,000 Indonesian domestic workers.¹⁰⁸

Interviews with government officials, embassy officials, aid organizations, domestic workers, and employment agents suggest that causes of these falls likely include suicide and hazardous workplace conditions. Isolation at the workplace, excessive work demands, employer abuse, and financial pressures are all factors that may contribute to anxiety and depression. Human Rights Watch interviewed a domestic worker who had attempted suicide after suffering poor working conditions and feeling she had no alternatives for escape. She said:

I was afraid if I ran away, I would be caught by the police. Madam often got angry with me, complained to the agency, and the agency also got angry with me.  The agent asked “What do you want?” I said, “I want to die, ma’am, because the people here are cruel, everything I do is wrong, I’m always called idiot and stupid.”

[It got so bad,] I really didn’t know what to do, so I drank poison for rats and cockroaches.  I lost consciousness, and Madam brought me to the hospital….

The police told me it was wrong to try suicide. When the incident happened, I had been working exactly seven months.  I had earned S$90 [U.S.$53].¹⁰⁹

In the case of the Sri Lankan domestic worker who fell to her death, a spokesperson from the High Commission said, “The case is still an open verdict. But apparently she had kept a diary and she was very unhappy with her work conditions.”¹¹⁰

The threat of repatriation before they repay their debts or earn adequate money to support their families may also fuel panic and anxiety among domestic workers. In one domestic worker’s case seen by a service organization, “The employer wanted to send her home.  She took a knife to herself [attempted suicide] because she wanted to finish her [two-year] contract….  She didn’t want to go back to the agent.  She had worked for one year and five months.  In the end, she returned to the agent.”¹¹¹

Hazardous workplace conditions include being forced to clean the outside of windows from precarious ledges or to hang wet clothes from bamboo poles out of high windows from unsafe positions. An official from the Sri Lankan High Commission described one case in which a domestic worker was injured but did not die: “One girl fell over, about three years ago.  She stood on the kitchen ledge.  She slipped and fell four floors….  Employers scream if windows are not shining.  She was in the hospital for two months.”¹¹² Ministry of Manpower officials told us that when they receive news of a fall, a “team goes to investigate cases.  In one case a FDW [foreign domestic worker] fell to death while hanging clothes.  The employer was responsible for endangering the safety of the FDW.  It was in an area not meant for public access—a ledge with a low parapet.”¹¹³

In an interview with Human Rights Watch, Ministry of Manpower representatives discussed the government’s assessment of the cause of the deaths and their strategies for overcoming these problems:

There are two main causes.  The first is safety.  We are implementing a massive exercise, telling employers, “you are responsible for the safety of domestic workers,” through education, pamphlets….   The second is that FDWs [foreign domestic workers] commit suicide.  We are teaching employers and educating EAs [employment agents] the signs to look for.¹¹⁴

The results of investigations into a domestic worker’s death or fall, and the ensuing classification of the incident as an accident or suicide carry consequences for a domestic worker’s family. Compensation for falls deemed to be accidents may result in payments up to S$10,000 [U.S.$5,900] under the personal injury insurance that employers are required to buy for domestic workers. No compensation is offered in cases of suicide, and as the woman quoted above suggests, women who attempt suicide face possible criminal prosecution.

These cases are often difficult to investigate because the worker may have been home alone at the time of the fall, or there are no witnesses to corroborate or contradict employers’ versions of events. An employment agent told us about a case in which one of the domestic workers she had placed died.  She said, “I had a death.  She fell from the twenty-second floor, she just flew off the window….  She was very young, sweet.” ¹¹⁵ The investigation did not produce conclusive results on the cause of death, and at the time of the interview, the family had received no compensation.

In another case, a domestic worker suffered extreme financial hardship as a result of her fall. She fell three stories when hanging laundry, incurring spinal injuries and several broken bones. She was not able to walk ten months after the accident. Although the personal injury insurance paid for her initial hospital bill, her family has had to pay for subsequent medical care.¹¹⁶

Forced Confinement, Unpaid Wages, and Exorbitant Debt Payments

Forced Confinement and Restricted Communication

The house was locked.  I stayed in the house always.  I was worried, if there is a fire, I don’t have the key.  What should I do, jump from the window?....  My employer didn’t know I had a handphone, I always hid it in my clothing.  She threw all my numbers, addresses in the garbage, my notebook.  She tore it and threw it away….  At my employer’s house, I couldn’t talk [covers her mouth].
─Trisha Panada (not her real name), Filipina domestic worker, age twenty-two, Singapore, February 21, 2005

Human Rights Watch interviewed twenty-nine domestic workers who had been forbidden from leaving their apartments alone and who had limited opportunity to use the phone, speak to neighbors, or even write letters. One woman, Kartini Saptono, told us:  “I can write letters but I can’t make phone calls, I have to do it in secret.  I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend.  My employer wouldn’t like it, she would send me back to Indonesia.”¹¹⁷

The S$5,000 [U.S.$2,950] security bond paid by employers of foreign domestic workers to the government, in combination with employers’ fears of domestic workers running away, meeting boyfriends, becoming pregnant, or stealing household items contributes to many employers placing tight restrictions on their maid’s mobility and communication with others.¹¹⁸

The vast majority of migrant domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch did not hold their own passports or even know where it was. Others did not keep their work permits in their own possession, in violation of immigration regulations. Typically, an employment agent might take a worker’s passport from her at the airport, use it to collect the work permit, and then either keep it or pass it to the worker’s employer directly. Although employers and agents often say they are retaining the passport for safekeeping, domestic workers sometimes are not able to obtain their passport, work permit, or other important documents even on request—further restricting their freedom of movement.

As with the other abuses documented here, confiscation of passports and work authorization documents compounds restrictions on workers’ movements.  One domestic worker said, “They said I can’t talk to others.  I was not allowed to speak with other people or speak in Bahasa Indonesia. My employers held my passport and work permit.”¹¹⁹  Milagros Baluyot, a Filipina domestic worker told us, “I should be able to keep my passport, but he [my employer] took it from me because he said he cannot trust me.  He even has my work permit.”¹²⁰ When an employer holds a domestic worker’s work permit, he or she violates the work permit regulations and is subject to penalties and prosecution.

Many domestic workers are forbidden from leaving the workplace unless they are in the company of their employer or, for those who are so lucky, on days off. Some domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported being locked in their workplace from the outside. More commonly, domestic workers reported that their employers discouraged or prohibited them from talking to neighbors, other domestic workers, or to friends on the phone. Many employment agents and employers justified these practices.  One agent said, “Poor people can abuse the employer.  The employer puts up the security bond.  If the maid runs away or does some nasty thing, the employer loses a lot of money.”¹²¹ As Lilia Jornadal said, “I was not allowed to go out, or to talk to the neighbors.  They didn’t want me to talk to other maids.”¹²²

Agents and employers often prohibit or discourage domestic workers from developing friendships with neighbors or other migrant workers, regardless of whether these relationships are formed during working hours or not.  One agent explained, “I’m against maids having friends.  When they go down to the playground, they talk.  An employer doesn’t want her maid to have friends, they leave their house to the maid, they don’t know if the friends are good or bad.  They leave their small babies with them.”¹²³ 

Underlying these tight restrictions on freedom of movement and association is a lack of trust as well as an attitude that infantilizes grown women. In one case, Tirtawati, a thirty-year-old domestic worker said, “My employers sent the children to school.  They didn’t trust me to take the child.  They locked the gate when they left.”¹²⁴ Employers expressed doubt about the ability of their maids to make good decisions regarding making friends, having a boyfriend, or saving money. A man working for a company providing insurance to employers of domestic workers protested against the restrictions on domestic workers’ movements, saying:

In my opinion we are all human beings.  To leave the house, it is a basic human need.  There is not a single case where it should be a problem.  [If she becomes pregnant,] you send her home or get an abortion.  It is a dumb excuse to keep maids in because of that, or to lock them in the house.  I know one Sri Lankan’s employer padlocked food in the house, and she could not go out of the house, until the neighbors complained.¹²⁵

Another agent conceded that employers sometimes resort to extreme confinement measures:  “Some employers take it too harshly.  The [maid] can’t look out of the window….  It gets absurd.  They assume she is planning suicide.”¹²⁶

Almost all of the domestic workers that Human Rights Watch interviewed were required to obtain permission to leave the household where they worked. Many domestic workers were not allowed out of the apartment unless they were in the company of their employer, even to go to the market.  Some employers locked the phone so domestic workers could not use it during the day.¹²⁷ Despite having worked in Singapore for several years, a forty-two-year-old domestic worker said, “Monday through Saturday, [when my employers are at work,] I cannot go to the market, just downstairs.  If we are all together, they let me take a walk with them. If they are at home, I cannot come down even if my work is finished.¹²⁸

In other situations, employers deny domestic workers their right to leave their jobs.  Human Rights Watch interviewed several women who wanted to return home or to change employers but were unable to because their employers forbade them from contacting their agent, withheld their salary, or restricted their movements and communication.  In some circumstances described in this report these situations may amount to forced labor. One woman said:

After my mother passed away, I asked for money [from my savings] for the funeral.  The employer kept saying the money is safe in the bank, why are you asking?  I said if you don’t want to pay my salary, I want to go back.  My mother passed away, I wanted to go back.  My employer scolded me, “Your mother already died.  She is already in the graveyard, why do you want to go back?”¹²⁹

We interviewed Adelyn Malana, a twenty-two-year-old Filipina domestic worker awaiting a transfer so she could continue paying off her debt before returning home.  She said:

I said I’m not happy.  I’m not happy in this house, I want to go back to my agent.  My employer said no.  I cried.  I wanted to work, but this situation was not good….  Every day there was no change, so I asked her, can you send me back?....  She didn’t want me to change [employers], she would get very angry….  I want to work, pay my debts and earn enough to go home.¹³⁰

Faith-based organizations and other service-providers also reported handling several complaints of virtual imprisonment in the home.  One service provider told us:

We know girls in need of help, they can’t come out [of the workplace] …. They call seeking help, sometimes through writing.  They are so controlled in their moves.  They contact us be it through letters, neighbors, whatever channels they can.¹³¹

In a case similar to others documented by Human Rights Watch, Ani Khadijah said, “They would lock me inside the house with the baby.  I was not allowed to make phone calls or send letters to my family.  I wasn’t allowed to say anything or talk to the neighbors, I had to just keep quiet.”¹³² 

One domestic worker’s employer repeatedly threatened to repatriate her if she talked to the neighbors or left the apartment. The consequences for domestic workers who defy their employers’ restrictions may be swift. After working for four months, and hungry from a lack of food, one domestic worker forbidden from leaving the workplace ventured to a nearby store after receiving money for the first time, a gift from a neighbor during the Chinese New Year. She said her trip to the store “is the reason my employer returned me to the agency….  I had gone to buy coffee and bread.”¹³³

In the most severe cases, domestic workers likened their confinement to the workplace as imprisonment.  Sri Mulyani, a thirty-year-old Indonesian domestic worker, described her experience with an employer for whom she had worked for three years:

I was not allowed to go outside.  I never went outside, not even to dump the garbage.  I was always inside, I didn’t even go to the market.  I felt like I was in jail.  It was truly imprisonment.  I was not allowed to turn the radio on either….  I could only see the outside world when I hung clothes to dry….  My employer said, “Don’t speak to anyone.  Don’t speak to friends or to the neighbors.”  I wasn’t allowed to contact my relatives. I worked for three years.  I had nobody to talk to.

I asked my employers if I could return to Indonesia, and they said no.  I was not happy or comfortable, and I wanted to go back.  They said, “you have to finish your contract.  You have to make sure you finish your contract before you go back.”….  [Even] if I needed a panty liner, one of the children would be sent down to buy it for me.¹³⁴

One domestic worker who suffered sexual harassment was locked inside her employer’s compound for the first three months of employment. She said, “My employer asked me to massage him. He hugged me. I was shocked because he was my employer….  I wanted to leave, but the gate was locked….  [After three months], they gave me the key….  That is when I ran away.”¹³⁵

In another case, Human Rights Watch interviewed Eri Sudewo, a domestic worker who had not been outside in two years and was almost skeletal from lack of food.  She had recently been rescued after tossing a letter pleading for help to a neighboring domestic worker who sought the intervention of an aid organization, the Ministry of Manpower, and the police.  Sudewo was elated to contact her family for the first time, to visit a Singaporean market for the first time, and to speak with other Indonesians.  She recounted how she felt like she was going insane due to the isolation, yet did not know where to turn for help.  She said:

The outside door was locked.  All the doors were locked, only the bathroom was open.  The kitchen was locked.  For one day, one week at a time, I would never eat anything.  I was hungry, what could I do?...  I had no day off, I never went outside.  When the Filipina maid went outside to throw the rubbish, she would tell me [through the window], you must run, if you stay, you will die.¹³⁶

Some domestic workers reported having to arrange their work duties at inconvenient times in order to avoid meeting neighbors.  For example, one domestic worker said, “I had to clean the car.  The first day the son tells me to clean the car at 7 a.m.  The mom says no because it is too early, she is afraid I will talk to my friends.  So I had to clean the car at 11:30 a.m. when it is very hot.”¹³⁷  Other employers imposed strict time constraints. A domestic worker told Human Rights Watch, “If I left the flat to throw out the trash, I had to return in exactly three minutes.”¹³⁸  In one case, employers restricted the movements of their domestic workers in response to their own failure to pay the monthly levy. Anis Rukiyah said, “After MOM [the Ministry of Manpower] sent the letter about the employer failing to pay the levy, my employers asked me never to go anywhere.  If I answered the phone, the employer got angry.”¹³⁹

Many domestic workers resorted to ingenious methods to stay in touch with the outside world.  This included keeping handphones hidden from employers or dropping letters out of the window for neighbors to pick up.  For example, Endang Utari, a thirty-one-year-old domestic worker said, “My employer thinks Indonesians are very stupid.  She didn’t believe anything I said.  I could not go out of the house and buy groceries.  She called her daughters to buy food.  Once a month during menstruation, I would need a pad, I could bring amma [the employer’s mother] and go to the market….  I have a handphone.  Two years ago I bought it.  I kept it in my bed.  I asked my friend to buy the top up card.  I kept it hidden from my employer.  I wrote a letter and threw it [to my friend].”¹⁴⁰

Many employers and agents claim that domestic workers do not wish to leave their workplaces because Singapore is an unfamiliar country, or they are comfortable at home. Many domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch spoke about their strong desire to have more freedom.  One domestic worker said, “They should give us time to write letters, and have contact with our families because we are homesick.”¹⁴¹  Another domestic worker commented, “I need more freedom.  I want to be able to talk to my friends and not just on my off days.”¹⁴²

Unpaid Wages

I was supposed to get paid S$230 per month.  I was never given any salary.  I came on February 7, 2003.  When I asked for my salary, they asked “why?”  I said, “I want to send it to my father.”  I waited, I waited, I waited.  I don’t want to ask anymore.  She said, “Don’t worry, I will give it to you when you leave.  If you want anything, soap, biscuits, I will buy it for you.”
─Bayuningsih (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker who escaped after two years employment without pay, age twenty-three, Singapore, March 4, 2005

Failure to receive full and regular payment of wages is one of the most common complaints handled by the Ministry of Manpower and other aid organizations that assist domestic workers.¹⁴³ As one domestic worker, Eko Mardiyanto, said, “Sometimes my employer doesn’t pay my salary, I have to ask for it.  Sometimes she pays me every five months, sometimes every month.”¹⁴⁴  Another domestic worker said, “I have been working for two years, and have no money.  I only have S$20 [U.S.$12], no money, how come?....  Every night I cannot sleep.  I have no money.  I am awake trying to think of who can help me.”¹⁴⁵

In one case, a Bangladeshi domestic worker, Chandrika Das, did not receive wages for almost eight years. When she tried to claim her wages upon departure, her employer told her, “I’ve done a lot for you.  Because of me, you got to breathe the air in Singapore.  I gave you a luxurious life.  Whatever we have done for you is enough.”¹⁴⁶ After mediation through the Ministry of Manpower, she received a partial settlement of S$3,280 [U.S.$1,935] as payment for twenty months. As one migrant worker’s advocate noted: “She was owed S$20,000 and settled for S$3,000,”¹⁴⁷ approximately S$1 [U.S.$0.59] for each day of work over eight years. Das returned to Bangladesh, but may return to seek the rest of her salary.¹⁴⁸ In another case of unpaid wages, an underage domestic worker was not paid for four years.  When the worker approached her embassy for help, they calculated that she was owed S$10,000 [U.S.$5,900] in back wages.¹⁴⁹

Domestic workers have little negotiating ability when they sign contracts for overseas employment.  During their first two-year contract, the labor agent typically sets the salary.  Although many domestic workers sign a contract before beginning work, almost none retain their own copies, and many are vague about the terms and conditions of employment.  Human Rights Watch interviewed Julie Panada, a newly-arrived domestic worker from the Philippines who did not know the salary she would receive once she finished paying her debts.  She said, “I don’t know my salary yet…I got here yesterday.”¹⁵⁰  Even when they do have certain wage expectations, once they arrive in Singapore, at the mercy of an employer who can repatriate them at whim, many accept the salaries given to them, even if it is lower than what they had agreed to. Lalitha Ranjanie, a Sri Lankan domestic worker said, “My salary is low—200 dollars.  [At the embassy they told me] it would be 250.  I never received a contract.”¹⁵¹

Domestic workers often have little control over their wages.  Employers may say that they are depositing money in the bank, but the domestic worker often has no independent access or records of the account.  Similarly, some employers say they are wiring money to the domestic worker’s family without actually doing so. A thirty-year-old domestic worker said:

I never received any salary.  My employers said they were putting money in the bank.  Actually there was no bank account in my name….  I worked for them for twelve months, I wanted to go home….  The employer got upset because I kept on asking about my salary….

My employer was angry with me.  They didn’t pay my ticket back to Indonesia….  My employer said, “Sri, time for you to go home, but I have no money to send you.  I will work here and send it to you later.”  They chased me out.  On 14 January [2005], they forced me out of the house.¹⁵²

As in the case above, some employers fail not only to pay the required wages regularly, but also evade their obligations under Singaporean regulations to pay for the domestic worker’s return trip home or paid leave to her country at least once every two years.  Many employers shirk their obligation by purchasing cheap ferry tickets to nearby Batam or to capital cities like Manila or Colombo, instead of buying the complete fare to a domestic worker’s hometown.  Domestic workers who have finished their contracts and are repatriated then have few options for seeking redress.  One employer, in addition to withholding three months of salary, improperly charged her twenty-two-year-old Indonesian domestic worker S$400 [U.S.$236] for food and for her return fare.  One domestic worker, Dita Wulansih, told Human Rights Watch:

I said to my employer, “Okay, buy a ticket to Jakarta,” because I am from Jakarta.  She said she bought a ticket to Batam.  I said, “Mom, I don’t have family in Batam.” She said, “I don’t care about you.”  I spent a whole month’s salary trying to leave Batam [and return to Singapore to make a complaint.]¹⁵³

An official from the Sri Lankan High Commission gave an example of a complaint received the day of the interview: “I just received a call from a woman who didn’t get two months salary…..  She is underpaid, they owe her S$500 [U.S.$295].  They did not give her a return ticket. Roughly on a monthly basis, we have five to eight cases of unpaid wages.”¹⁵⁴

Some employers cut the salaries of their domestic workers, charging them for perceived mistakes or damages sustained during the course of housework, or simply as a form of control.  The practice of deducting domestic workers’ salaries for such costs is illegal. Lilia Jornadal, a domestic worker employed in Singapore for more than one year, said, “The first five months my salary went to my agent….  Then I got it only every two months.  If I didn’t ask for it, they wouldn’t give it. The punishment for one mistake would be S$1 [U.S.$0.59].  They were often cutting forty or fifty [Singapore] dollars per month [U.S.$24-30].  I didn’t have a choice.  I had to accept it.”¹⁵⁵ Cynthia Suarez, another domestic worker, despite having worked in Singapore for several years, said, “If I don’t answer the phone, the employer deducts S$5 [U.S.$3] from my salary.  He makes a deduction if I forget to do something, or he says something is dirty.”¹⁵⁶

Recent revisions to the work permit regulations require employers to pay domestic workers each month. The Ministry of Manpower, sending countries’ embassies, and aid organizations have intervened in increasing numbers of cases over recent years to address unpaid wages. Yet many domestic workers continue to have little access to redress, especially if their employers decide to repatriate them immediately when they demand their wages. Ministry of Manpower officials have suggested that domestic workers who are being repatriated contact immigration officers at their point of departure, but many domestic workers are kept under close supervision while at the airport, are unaware of such options, are intimidated by these officials, or are too overwhelmed by the circumstances to act.

Once they have returned to their native country, most are resigned to the fact that it is no longer feasible to reclaim their wages. Human Rights Watch interviewed Dwiyani, a woman who believed her only recourse was returning to Singapore as a domestic worker—with another ten-month loan repayment period—and pursuing her claim for unpaid wages with her first employer. Although she returned and authorities eventually resolved the case in her favor, the case shows the heavy price domestic workers can pay if unaware of redress mechanisms available to them. Dwiyani told us she had worked for her first employer for one year:

I received cash S$380 for the whole year….  I was confused because I was told to go home and I didn’t know what to do and if I stayed here I didn’t know what to do.  I didn’t know where to report.

I went home…and my mother got angry with me.  I only brought two million rupiah [U.S.$198].  She asked, “Your employer didn’t pay you?”  I told her what happened….[and eventually decided to return to Singapore under a new contract.]  I went back to MOM [the Ministry of Manpower], my former employers were also there….  They said the unpaid wages were only a few dollars.  I claimed S$1640 [U.S.$968].  MOM counted for themselves and they agreed with me….  In the end they paid me. 

Now I want to send money back home and also look for more work, because I have to pay the new agency.¹⁵⁷

Exorbitant Debt Payments

I stayed one month in the employment agency [when I transferred employers]. They charged me S$20 [U.S.$12] per night and I owed them S$600 [U.S.$354].  Can you imagine, my monthly salary is S$340 [U.S.$201]. [I transferred employers twice. When my third employer made me clean two houses,] I ran away to this shelter.  If I go again to my agency, they will charge S$20 [U.S.$12] again.  More debts. I work so hard, and then the salary goes to the agency.

I worked all day and got no rest.  My parents don’t know I ran away.  I am scared.  It has been seven months already.  I don’t have money, I don’t want to go back.  Even a little money here, it’s worth so much in the Philippines.  I paid 20,000 pesos for bus fare, travel tax, the terminal fee, travel bag.  We borrowed 5,000 from friends.  I am scared to tell my mother, she has high blood pressure.

The agency overcharged me.  I have bad luck with employers, I try again and again.  My debts are growing.  My two years will be useless!
─Luz Padilla (not her real name), Filipina domestic worker, age twenty-four, February 21, 2005

Minimally regulated competition among employment agencies in Singapore has led to unconscionable financial exploitation of poor young women from neighboring countries. In order to lower the fees they charge prospective employers and boost their own profits, labor agencies have shifted the burden of recruitment and placement costs almost entirely to domestic workers, routinely charging between S$1,400 [U.S.$875] and S$2,100 [U.S.$1,312].¹⁵⁸ Employment agencies charge employers much less:  anywhere from several hundred Singapore dollars, for example, S$588 [U.S.$368], to fees as low as S$88 [U.S.$55] or even S$1 [U.S.$0.62]. Unable to pay such large fees, domestic workers reach agreements with their agents and employers to “fly now, pay later,” and take out loans from their employment agents that they repay by turning over their first several months of pay.

Indonesian domestic workers typically enter employment with salary deductions of six to ten months.  Other workers, including Sri Lankans and Filipinas, often have three to six months of their salary withheld, for example, Margarita Ramos, who arrived in Singapore a few days before Human Rights Watch interviewed her, told us, “My salary will be S$350 [U.S.$206], but I will give S$330 [U.S.$195] to the agency for six months.”¹⁵⁹ A professional working in the domestic worker industry for several decades said:

From 1980-1990, the employer paid [the placement costs].  The maid paid a small little fee.  But the competition between agents has increased, they are not charging employers, and instead passing the buck to maids.  For six to eight months, the poor maid does not get a salary….  The abuse of maids comes from the EA [employment agent].  They do business by not charging employers.¹⁶⁰ 

No regulations exist to cap the salary deductions imposed on migrant domestic workers. As discussed earlier, domestic workers are excluded from provisions in the Employment Act that stipulate salary deductions cannot exceed 25 percent of the salary due per payment period and that advances made to cover the employee’s traveling expenses may not be covered through salary deductions.¹⁶¹ An employment agent noted, “In the accreditation standards, there is nothing about how much salary you can deduct.”¹⁶² Another employment agent told us:

Maids are sucked dry.  They come from villages, are innocent.  What I have told MOM [Ministry of Manpower], when you bring a girl from the kampung [village], and her salary is deducted for ten months, she is working in a high building, overworked, no freedom, working hard….  The government says it is a free market, but that only works with a level playing field.¹⁶³ 

Singapore’s standards concerning salary deductions fall behind those of other countries.  Hong Kong and the Philippines require employers to pay for domestic workers’ transit to and from the country of employment. Hong Kong also requires that employers bear the cost of visas, insurance, required medical exams, and other administrative fees (see appendix A).

Human Rights Watch interviewed employment agents in Singapore who attribute their high fees to overcharging by labor agents in sending countries, part of which may go toward bribes. One employment agent told us, “I don’t know how much.  But I’m very, very sure, that a certain amount [of the fee paid to labor agents in sending countries] goes to immigration officials….  When labor agents from sending countries increase their fees, we have to increase ours.  They are killing their own people.”¹⁶⁴

Other employment agents described intense competition from their peers as a reason they have lowered fees charged to employers and offer free replacements. One labor agent in the industry for several years said, “This business is so crowded, so competitive. I charge S$520 [U.S.$307] [to employers,] and if it doesn’t work out after three months, for any reason, I will give a replacement. I will charge S$250 [U.S.$148] when there is an excess supply of maids.  The fee I charge has dropped from S$1600 [U.S.$944] to S$250.   I don’t have the luxury of rejecting employers.  I need the money.”¹⁶⁵ When agents offer replacements with “no questions asked,” many domestic workers’ debts increase because they have to pay a transfer fee. An employment agent told us, “For every transfer we make a lot of money.  We add a one-month deduction.  I know some agents charging two months.”¹⁶⁶

Employment agencies also have a vested interest in reclaiming the “loans” they extend to domestic workers. Bridget Lew, who runs a shelter for abused domestic workers and has also started an employment agency said that Indonesian employment agents charge S$1400-1500 [U.S.$875-938] for a domestic worker and demand half of the money up front from the Singapore agents. She said:

The girls can’t pay, the employers can’t pay. So the girls are slammed with loans for six to nine months. If she cannot cope and [leaves her employer before the loan is repaid], the [Singapore] agency has already paid up front. The supplier won’t return the money, and the employer will refuse to pay the money. The poor girl has no money, so the agency has to absorb the cost. So the agent will push the girl to another employer so she will earn back the money.¹⁶⁷

Exorbitant fees and long debt repayment periods place migrant domestic workers in a highly vulnerable position. Migrant domestic workers feel enormous pressure to extend their employment as long as they can so they can repay their debts and begin earning a salary. Employers have the right to repatriate them at will, and the power to deny employment transfers should the domestic worker seek another employer.

Human Rights Watch interviewed migrant domestic workers who stayed in abusive situations fearing that they would lose their opportunity to repay their debts if they complained about their employers or escaped to their embassies. Lina Alvarez’s employer made her work at a store in addition to cleaning the house, demanded sixteen-hour workdays, and gave her only a mattress to sleep on at night. Alvarez waited until she had completed her debt payments before leaving her employer. She told us, “The first six months, my boss was very bad.  When I finished my salary deduction after six months, I wanted to go back home.”¹⁶⁸ Another domestic worker said:

I would tell my agency so many times about the abuse, but she didn’t care.  She would only say wait, wait, wait.  If you come back, you have to pay eight million rupiah [U.S.$495].  I said okay already, I was so scared.  I didn’t want them to send me back, so I didn’t say anything.¹⁶⁹

Domestic workers who transfer to a new employer are at risk of being overcharged. Their agents often charge them daily rates for room and board for the phase between placement with employers, often between S$10-20 [U.S.$6-12] per night, and a fee for the transfer.  Although accreditation criteria provide they should not pay more than one month of salary, many domestic workers paid three months or more. For example, one domestic worker who transferred employers because the first one did not provide adequate food, said, “after that transfer, I had a problem with the agency also.  The deduction was very high.  I stayed with the agency for one month only but they deducted four months of my salary.  Four months for the transfer and seven months for the initial fee—how come?”¹⁷⁰ Sylvia Tobias spent one night at her agent’s house before being transferred.  She said, “The agent scolded me and added three months of salary deduction.  It was supposed to be one month only. That is why I complained.”¹⁷¹

Wati Widodo recalled her employment agent explaining the terms of her contract to her. She said, “They said they would cut my salary for seven months, seven-and-a-half months.  If I changed employers, they would cut three more months.  If I changed [employers repeatedly], I would come back with no money.”¹⁷² A Filipina domestic worker said, “The agent sucks blood from us.  I am afraid to change employers because I will have to pay a deduction…..  The employers pay for us and still the agents make us pay.”¹⁷³ Lina Alvarez, above, left her employment having received only S$20 [U.S.$12] each month during her deduction period.¹⁷⁴

Wati Widodo suffered physical abuse at the hands of her employer yet was compelled to stay to pay off her debt.  When she complained to her agent and tried to change employers, she only faced more abuse.  She said:

The employer would get angry.  If there was a problem outside, if anything was a little wrong, she would get angry….  If she was very angry, she would slap me many times.  I hadn’t finished my contract yet.  She said I couldn’t go home.  I couldn’t tolerate it. 

When I told the agent the employer had slapped me, she just said, “you must suffer.  You should control your feelings.”  If a maid hasn’t finished her salary deduction, and she calls the agent, the agent is angry.  The agent also slapped me; they didn’t want me to leave without finishing the contract and the salary deduction.¹⁷⁵

International Standards on Forced Labor and Debt Bondage

Restricted movement, restricted communication, unpaid wages, deception about work arrangements, work under threat, and imposition of unreasonably heavy debts are violations of domestic workers’ human rights. In some cases, these conditions rise to the level of forced labor and debt bondage.

International law and Singapore’s national laws proscribe forced labor and institutions and practices similar to slavery, such as debt bondage.¹⁷⁶ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), ICCPR, the ILO Forced Labor Convention, and the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (Supplemental Slavery Convention) are the principal sources of international law that define and prohibit these practices. Singapore has ratified the Forced Labor Convention and the Supplemental Slavery Convention.¹⁷⁷  

According to ILO Convention on Forced Labor, Number 29, forced or compulsory labor “shall mean all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”¹⁷⁸ “Menace of any penalty” was explained by the ILO Committee of Experts as a penalty that “need not be in the form of penal sanctions, but might take the form also of a loss of rights or privileges.”¹⁷⁹  The ILO notes that it is possible for workers to revoke freely given consent: “many victims enter forced labour situations initially of their own accord…only to discover later that they are not free to withdraw their labour. They are subsequently unable to leave their work owing to legal, physical or psychological coercion.”¹⁸⁰

The ILO has further elaborated on the two key elements of forced labor—the work is exacted under the menace of a penalty and it is undertaken involuntarily. The ILO provides the following as examples as a menace of a penalty: physical violence against a worker or close associates, physical confinement, financial penalties, denunciation to authorities (police, immigration) and deportation, dismissal from current employment, exclusion from future employment, and the removal of rights and privileges. Examples of the involuntary nature of work include: physical confinement in the work location, psychological compulsion (order to work backed up by a credible threat of a penalty), induced indebtedness (by falsification of accounts, inflated prices, excessive interest charges, etc.), deception about types and terms of work, withholding and non-payment of wages, and retention of identity documents or other valuable personal possessions.¹⁸¹

In fifteen of the cases documented in this report, labor agents and employers engaged in practices that created a “menace of penalties,” including implied threats to traffic women into forced prostitution, to impose substantial fines if domestic workers did not complete their contracts, or to abandon them far from their homes. In all of these fifteen cases, the circumstances the women described also meet the ILO definition of “involuntary” work. As already noted, women described confinement in the workplace, inflated agency fees for transfers of employment, confiscation of passports and work permits against the worker’s will, and withholding of wages.  Domestic workers told Human Rights Watch they felt they had no choice but to endure poor working conditions and at times serious abuses because they feared the consequences if they left their contracts early.

The ILO highlighted domestic workers as a population of concern in its global study on forced labor, noting:

A long-standing problem involving new forms of coercion is the treatment of domestic workers….  Today the growing numbers of migrant domestics to the Middle East and elsewhere, who hand over identity documents and find themselves tied to one household with restricted freedom of movement, are highly vulnerable to forced labour.¹⁸²

Among the fifteen cases of forced labor we documented, some were situations of indebtedness akin to debt bondage. The U.N. Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery defines debt bondage as:

The status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his/her personal service or those of a person under his/her control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.¹⁸³

In the case of Luz Padilla, described above, the combination of a burdensome initial debt and her employment agent’s practice of overcharging for transfers meant that her efforts to work off growing debts were futile and that she had no foreseeable end to her debt payments. Her case and those of domestic workers in similar circumstances are akin to a situation of debt bondage.

International Standards on Freedom of Movement and Freedom of Association

International law protects both the right to freedom of movement and freedom of association.  Article 13 of the UDHR provides for the right to freedom of movement and the right to return to one’s country.¹⁸⁴  In addition to its legal basis under treaty law, the right to return to one’s own country has increasingly been recognized as a norm of international customary law.¹⁸⁵   

Article 20 of the UDHR recognizes the right to freedom of association.¹⁸⁶  This right is further elaborated by several ILO Conventions, most notably the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (Convention No. 87) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (Convention No. 98), two of the ILO’s fundamental conventions.¹⁸⁷ Singapore ratified the latter in 1965.¹⁸⁸

The practice of preventing domestic workers from leaving their workplace violates international and Singaporean law.  Confinement in the workplace prevents domestic workers from enjoying other rights, such as the right to return to their country.  Combined with poor working conditions and other forms of abuse, forced confinement is also psychologically abusive, isolating domestic workers from support networks or escape options and fostering dependency and feelings of powerlessness.

Restrictions on migrant domestic workers’ movements prevent them from associating with other domestic workers, or from contacting religious organizations, NGOs, or other support and advocacy groups. Rest days and annual leave are critical labor rights not only for domestic workers to take necessary rest, but also to protect their freedom of movement and association. Filipina domestic workers are the most likely to have at least one day off a month and use their day off to attend church and to meet with one another. They have formed associations in which they can turn to each other for social support and information, and through which support services, including health care and legal aid, can more easily be channeled.

Poor Working Conditions

If I clean, if I finish, [my employer] says it’s not clean.  I have to repeat the work.  So I finish my work only at nighttime….  I mop at 9 p.m. and then I sweep.  At 10 p.m. I shower.  She gives me only ten minutes to shower and wash my clothes.  She scolds me and gets very angry if I take longer.  Then I massage her for one or two hours….  At 1:30 a.m. I sleep.  If I’m not finished, [my employer] says I can’t sleep.  Sometimes I don’t eat lunch….  My friend asks me through the window, “why are you taking dinner so late at 11 p.m.?”  Because I am so busy.  I have no break or rest.
─Pertiwisari (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, Singapore, February 22, 2005

Given domestic workers exclusion from Singapore’s Employment Act—which regulates hours of work, weekly rest days, termination of contract, maternity benefits, and other labor protections—and the lack of comparable protections in the work permit regulations, many domestic workers sign employment contracts furnished to them either by their employment agents or their embassies. These are often vague or poorly enforced.

Among the typical problems that domestic workers confront are poorly defined work responsibilities; long hours of work; infrequent or lack of rest days, paid vacation days, or paid sick leave; and few protections regarding termination of employment. A diplomat from Sri Lanka noted, “if an employer is not happy with the maid, they can cancel work permits without notice.”¹⁸⁹ A domestic worker described how vague her work responsibilities were: “They never said, can you handle one house with five rooms and five children?  They asked can you care for children, but not how many.  Can you care for an old person, but not how many.”¹⁹⁰

Lack of Rest Days

The association [of employment agencies in Singapore] is trying to encourage employers to give one day off per month.  This is a lousy deal, it’s not so wonderful, even God takes a rest once a week.
—Employment agent, Singapore, March 1, 2005

Reliable data on the number of domestic workers in Singapore who receive at least one day off per week is not available.  New accreditation criteria for employment agencies mandating they create employment contracts with at least one rest day per month for migrant domestic workers fall short of national and international labor standards calling for weekly rest days.  The Philippines Overseas Administration issues a contract that stipulates one day off per week, and Filipina domestic workers are the mostly likely to enjoy this right. The Sri Lanka High Commission also has a standard employment contract which calls for domestic workers to have one day off per month.

The Association of Employment Agencies of Singapore (AEAS) promotes a “model” employment contract which it encourages employment agencies to adopt.  Beginning in 2006, accreditation criteria will require new contracts to stipulate a minimum of one rest day per month. These will not apply to current contracts. In early 2005, several employment agents told Human Rights Watch their contracts offer one rest day per month, but they advise employers not to begin giving rest days until the first six months of employment have finished.¹⁹¹ For example, one employment agent told Human Rights Watch, “I use the AEAS standard contract.  This specifies one day off a month.  For Filipinas, a minimum of one day off per month, sometimes two.  There is a probation period of six months, then one day off. I find it important [not to allow a day off initially], especially for Indonesians.  They are easily influenced.  After six months, they get to know the employer.”¹⁹² 

Domestic workers anxious to pay off their debts and to secure a job in Singapore do not have much negotiating power to improve working conditions.  One domestic worker said, “I had no off day.  I asked for an off day, but they never gave it.”¹⁹³  An employment agent who specializes in Sri Lankan and Indian domestic workers said, “To inexperienced girls, I don’t give an off day.  Not at all. I tell her, “you will not get an off day, unless the employer says so.”  After six months, the employer trusts her.  Some employers are very easy and give off days.  I tell these employers, “you will spoil them.”¹⁹⁴

Employment agencies have enormous influence over the terms of employment contracts, often at the expense of migrant workers’ rights, even though Singaporean policies dictate that contracts be negotiated between employers and employees. One Indonesian domestic worker said, “I asked for an off day, but the labor agents never gave it to me….  I asked them, ‘Can you give me an off day please?’  In Singapore and Indonesia both, the labor agents told me ‘no.’”¹⁹⁵

Human Rights Watch interviewed domestic workers, employers, agents, government officials, embassy officials, and aid organizations who confirmed that a significant proportion of foreign domestic workers in Singapore do not receive a weekly day off, and others, only one day per month.  Marites Padilla reflected the situations of many of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed when said that she was not able to choose whether she would have a day off or not.  She said, “I signed a contract for 340 dollars with no day off.  The agents didn’t give me a choice about the day off.”¹⁹⁶  Domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch repeatedly stressed the need for time to rest, both during the day and at least once a week. One Indonesian domestic worker explained, “They must give a rest day….  It is important to meet friends.  We are in somebody else’s house.”¹⁹⁷ Rita Yuboc, a twenty-four year-old Filipina worker said, “Sister, we are human.  We need to take a day off.”¹⁹⁸

As a result of government protections extended by the Philippines government as well as a greater awareness about their rights, Filipinas are more likely to enjoy regular rest days then their Indonesian and Sri Lankan counterparts.  Even then, some do not receive these rest days during their first few months of employment, or are limited to just one day a month.  One Filipina worker who had been employed in Singapore for several years told Human Rights Watch, “For my first two years, I asked if I could have an off day every week.  Ma’am said the boys are young, she needs my service.  She didn’t allow me to have an off day every week, she only gave them to me once a month.  After two years, she gave me off days twice a month.  Filipinas are lucky.  The Indonesians do not have an off day.”¹⁹⁹  A newly arrived Filipina domestic worker said, “I will not get an off day.  I think it’s very bad.  They said I can get one after one year.”²⁰⁰  Others arrange to receive less compensation if they choose to take a rest day.  Marites Padilla told us, “I got an off day one time every two months.  My employers would deduct S$10 [U.S.$6] salary [each time].”²⁰¹

Many domestic workers reported having to work in the mornings and evenings of their day off.  Michelle Udarbe, a Filipina domestic worker who had been employed in Singapore for several years said, “I get an off day twice a month.  I go out at 8 a.m.  From 6 a.m. - 8 a.m. I clean the house first.  Because my sir likes to play golf, I prepare breakfast.”²⁰²

The lack of a rest day also often interferes with domestic workers’ ability to practice their religion freely.  Lalitha Ranjanie confronted both of these problems and said her agency required her to accept a reduced salary if she wanted a day off. “They wouldn’t give me more than one off day per month.  I would be off from 8 a.m.- 6 p.m., then I needed to come back to make dinner.  On Saturday I would make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Sunday.  Then they could heat it.”²⁰³

Many employers and employment agents say they fear women will use a day off for activities such as second jobs, dancing, forming relationships with men, or even prostitution.  They justify controls on the freedom of movement of domestic workers in the name of protecting domestic workers from lecherous male foreign workers and helping them to save money. As one member of a faith-based organization that assists domestic workers said in response: “The day off issue is a real issue….  Why hold employers responsible for the social actions of maids?  If a maid gets pregnant, [the employer] sends them back.  Why is there the need for a bond?”²⁰⁴

An employment agent with more than twenty years of experience said employers use the threat of domestic workers getting pregnant as an excuse to keep them working throughout the week: “This is what employers say to me:  ‘If they get pregnant, I will lose S$5,000 [U.S.$2,950].’”²⁰⁵  Employers’ fears are based on misinformation. According to work permit regulations, a pregnant domestic worker must return to her home country, but her employer will not forfeit the security bond. Another labor agent said:

[Giving maids a] rest day is a problem in Singapore.  Because of the bond, employers are reluctant to give rest days.  Frankly, I think it is a lousy reason.  I try to promote it, but meet with lots of resistance.  People think it will create social problems.  They think maids will get pregnant, [they ask] who will be responsible for the S$5,000 [U.S.$2,950]….  It is a stinky excuse to keep a maid indoors for twenty-four hours, seven days a week….  MOM [Ministry of Manpower] should legislate because employers are so resistant.  It’s only fair to every human being.  They are entitled to once a week off.²⁰⁶

At the time of this writing, the government had not made any moves to require that all domestic workers receive one day off per week.  Instead, they have started to support programs that would address employers’ anxiety about how their domestic workers are spending their day off.  For example, they contribute financially to the Bayanihan center, a training institute run by the Filipino embassy and domestic workers which provides weekend courses for domestic workers to learn new skills.  One official from the Ministry of Manpower said, “There is a role to be played by such institutions.  The government can catalyze the process.  These are useful ways to spend days off.  Employers are very worried workers will get bad company….  They wonder, what is my worker going to do on her day off?  [The question is how] to structure it in a way that is palatable.”²⁰⁷

Hours of Work, Rest Periods

We have seen a lot of Indonesian workers working more than eighteen hours.  We wish the hours were shorter.  Maybe because our language skills are not so good, they use us like machines.

Some people wake up at 5 a.m., they have to work until 2 a.m.  You can imagine how tired they are. There should be strict work hours, no more than ten hours per day.  So many work twelve, sixteen, eighteen hours. Domestic workers should be included in the Employment Act.  Our contract should be enforced so we can claim our rights.
─Recommendations from focus group of Indonesian domestic workers, Singapore, March 6, 2005

Of the sixty-five domestic workers with whom Human Rights Watch conducted in-depth interviews, most reported working thirteen to nineteen hours each day.  While some domestic workers were content with their employment and were able to take periodic rests during the day, others felt enormous pressure to complete multiple tasks during the day.  This was especially true of domestic workers responsible for large houses or multiple residences, or taking care of young children or the elderly. 

One domestic worker, Rita Yuboc, described her working conditions as follows:

I woke up at 4 a.m….  Some employers are like that, they don’t want you to sleep or take a rest….  I didn’t have any breaks, I had so much work to finish….   I would take my baths quickly.  My employer would knock on the door….  “I didn’t tell you you could take a bath”… Sometimes…employers want the maid to clean until 10 p.m. or 12 a.m. and to start working again at 6 a.m.²⁰⁸

Domestic workers who were employed in households with frequent visitors also reported a heavy workload.  Chandrika Das said, “For five years there were eight to ten people in the home…and it was a common practice to have frequent visitors.  I couldn’t sleep, I would serve water and fruits.  I had no rest during the day.  I had no time, it was painful for me.  Sometimes I cried.  I had no day off.”²⁰⁹ Several workers reported having around-the-clock jobs if they were caring for babies in addition to their other work.  One worker said:

I worked for a Chinese family.  There was one man, one woman, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, and a three-week old girl.  I had to look after the baby, clean the house, cook.  I started work at 6 a.m. and went to sleep at 1 a.m.  I had to look after the baby, so if the baby woke up in the night, I had to wake up too.  During the day, I had to stop my work to take care of her.  I did everything….  They lived on the 14^th floor and I had to clean the windows, it was very dangerous….  I got no sleep….  This employer kept me very busy.  Nothing could wait until tomorrow.  I couldn’t rest.  My employer scolded me.  She said “you must finish.”²¹⁰

Human Rights Watch interviewed domestic workers who said their employers imposed such exacting standards that they had to work from morning until night, often repeating tasks, to a level of cleanliness difficult to achieve.  One domestic worker told Human Rights Watch:

My employer would ask me to mop the floor twelve times in the morning with pledge. There was no end to my work.  My employer was never happy. I had no off day, and it was promised to me.  They told lies to me. They were not paying.  I was very confused….  How can I finish two years?  I suffered a lot, I was really under pressure.  I was very tired, that is why I ran away.²¹¹

Ministry of Manpower officials acknowledge that some domestic workers must work long hours, but argue that the nature of domestic workers’ labor is one that is difficult to regulate. Representatives of the Foreign Manpower Management Division said,

The working hours, the nature of work for domestic workers is different from office work, which is 9-5.  It depends on individual needs.  Employers and employees must come to a mutual understanding….  We hope to change through employer education.  There is different bargaining power.  The key is to encourage best practices, working closely with intermediaries.²¹²

Although an infant or elderly person may require care twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week, the burden should not fall on a single domestic worker to work around the clock. Other professions with similar demands, for example, nursing, arrange for shift work that ensures workers receive regular periods of rest. Employers must find ways to manage their own time and alternatives like child care to ensure reasonable working hours for domestic workers.

Illegal Deployment

I work two jobs but get one salary….  I am working for 100 percent free in my employer’s mother’s house. I wash everything by hand.  The curtains I wash by hand, the bedsheets by hand.  They have a machine but they don’t want me to use it. They think I am lousy, stupid. I am very tired. I complain to them, “I am a person, you want a dog….”  They never let me out.  They ask me to work and work and work.
─Tina Wisnawan (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age thirty-four, Singapore, March 6, 2005

Another problem that some domestic workers confront is illegal deployment to jobs other than the one stipulated in their work permits and employment contracts.  Singapore’s immigration policies require that domestic workers be employed in only one household and prohibits them from engaging in other forms of work.  Many domestic workers have little choice but to perform the work demanded of them by their employers.  Even in cases where they know working for others is illegal, many are afraid to protest, knowing employers might repatriate them before they pay back their loans or earn money.  Rita Yuboc worked for two separate employers who violated the terms of her employment visa and contract.  She said:

Every Sunday I had to clean the house of my madam’s mother.  [For my third employer], I had to clean the factory, one residence, so many houses….  I cleaned the residence and condo everyday, and the factory every day, sometimes all day.  They [also] delivered me boxes of factory work.  Fifty boxes, I would do it at home.  How many [pieces] inside, in one box, one thousand.  Sometimes in one day, I would have to finish eight boxes.²¹³

In another case documented by Human Rights Watch, an employer operated a laundry business out of her home by exploiting her domestic worker’s labor. The domestic worker, Aisyah Fatah, said:

At 5 a.m., I would wake up, prepare the laundry.  There were two washing machines and two dryers.  I would boil water, and clean the house.  I helped children when they wanted to eat and drink.  I cooked when the children were at school. I did laundry from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m.  The clothes were from outside.  It was quite a lot, from customers at a hotel and factories.  The machine was running non-stop.  I had no chance to rest.

I felt tired. There was not enough food.  I had no off day, not even one, because there was so much work to do.  The only time I went out is when I delivered the clothes from the 12^th floor to the 1^st floor, and then I had to come right back.  I never went outside….  Even if I was sick, I tried not to feel it.  My hands and feet were sore because I was so tired.  I was standing morning to night, I couldn’t sit.²¹⁴

One domestic worker worked early in the morning to cook food for the canteen that her employer operates.  She said:

At first my salary was S$240 [U.S.$150], now it is S$250 [U.S.$156].  It should be more than S$300 [U.S.$188] because I do so much work. I wake up at 2 a.m. to prepare food for the canteen and to pray.  I sleep from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.  Then I clean the whole house, cook, and care for the child. I don’t know how to change employers.  I am scared because of all the stories.²¹⁵

Some employment agents may also illegally deploy domestic workers to multiple employers on a daily or weekly basis. In such cases, the agents often keep the payments themselves. An official at the Sri Lanka High Commission told us of one case in which an agent did not process a domestic worker for a work permit when she arrived in Singapore:

Some agents are the scum of the earth….  He put her in temporary employment in six different places….  After one month, she asked for her salary….  The agent abused her in four letter words, screamed at her.  “I’m taking you out of there and I’ll send you back.”  He had been collecting her wages.  She paid for her own ticket home.   Some connection took pity on her and took her to MOM [Ministry of Manpower], and made a report.²¹⁶ 

Low and Unequal Wages

Our basic salary should be the same as that of domestic workers from other countries.  We feel it is…unfair.  I also can speak English.  We are also human, also workers.  We also clean toilets.  Why make it different?  We are the same as workers from other countries.
─Focus group with Indonesian domestic workers, Singapore, March 6, 2005

Inadequate state regulation of domestic workers’ wages has led both to extremely low wages that are a mere fraction of that earned by other workers and to discriminatory practices by agencies that set wages according to nationality. Singapore has no minimum wage law. According to the Singapore Report on Wages 2004, an average entry-level Singaporean worker in a comparable occupation, for example, a cleaner or gardener, earns a starting wage of approximately S$700-850 [U.S.$438-531] per month.²¹⁷ In contrast, the starting salary for Filipina domestic workers in early 2005 was S$320 [U.S.$189], for Indonesian and Sri Lankan domestic workers, approximately S$220-260 [U.S.$130-153], and for Indian domestic workers S$150-180 [U.S.$88-106] per month. One agent who supplies Indian domestic workers said, “They are the worst paid, S$180 per month. If they come direct with no agent, their pay is about S$100 [U.S.$59].”²¹⁸

One domestic worker, Tina Wisnawan, told Human Rights Watch:

My salary is S$250 [U.S.$148] only.  For one month I get S$250, you can count—I am working from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., it is so long.  You can count how much I earn per hour [S$0.55 per hour/U.S.$0.32]. It’s crazy.  Indonesian maids have situations like this.²¹⁹

Market forces serve to exploit migrant domestic workers in a context where a significant power imbalance exists between agents and employers on the one hand, and workers on the other, and where state policies accentuate these disparities. Singapore’s work permit regulations allow employers to repatriate a migrant domestic worker at will, weakening any bargaining power she may have. An organization providing services to domestic workers said:

Employers have the privilege to cancel the work permit as they see fit.  The domestic workers are truly at their mercy.  If you’re not happy, cancel the work permit and the maid goes home.  The maid has paid a lot of money to come here.  It prevents a lot of them from speaking up.  They have large families to support.²²⁰ 

For example, one highly-educated Filipina domestic worker told us her salary is, “quite low, for five years I have had no increase....  I don’t want to complain….  I fear they will find another maid.”²²¹ Employment agencies typically offer prospective employers a “package” that includes a domestic worker at a set wage and a “free replacement” if there are problems.

Inadequate Living Accommodations

I slept without a mattress or a pillow on the floor of the storeroom.
─Muriyani Suharti, Indonesian domestic worker, age twenty-two, Singapore, March 8, 2005

Many domestic workers reported that in addition to long working hours, a lack of rest days, and other labor violations, their dignity as human beings was not respected by their employers or agents.  In particular, many domestic workers are given substandard living accommodations. A group of domestic workers, discussing the recommendations they would like to see implemented, said, “Employers must give food, proper accommodation and respect to domestic workers.  They should treat workers with respect.  If they respect us, we will respect them.”²²²

Several domestic workers that Human Rights Watch interviewed did not have adequate living arrangements and were sleeping in the common living areas.²²³  For example, one domestic worker said, “I slept with the lady and the baby.  I couldn’t sleep alone.  Sometimes I slept on the floor in the hallway or in the room for changing clothes.”²²⁴ Another domestic worker said, “I slept in the front hall.  I had to unroll my mat each night.  Everybody could walk by, they could see me [when I was sleeping].”²²⁵ A domestic worker in a similar situation said, “I was not comfortable, because it was in the open.”²²⁶ One woman explained that her employer, “wanted me to sleep in the living room.  I slept in the store room because I didn’t want to sleep in the living room.”²²⁷ Many domestic workers slept in storerooms, laundry rooms, or closet areas:  “I slept in the storeroom.  I couldn’t stretch out my legs, it was very small!  It was the length of this sofa, only 2-3 feet high.”²²⁸  In some of the worst situations, employers did not provide basic sleeping materials.

Many domestic workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch shared their bedroom with an employer or the employer’s children.  In some cases, domestic workers shared rooms with adult males. Dwiyani told Human Rights Watch that in one employment situation, “I slept in a room together with the employer’s children, one a twenty-six-year-old man, and a seventeen-year-old girl.  When I was at the agent’s office, I was told that both were female.  At first I was very afraid.  When I was asleep, the boy slept next to me, but nothing happened.”²²⁹ Kartini Wibowo said, “The daughter and [the employer’s] wife sleep on the beds.  I slept on the floor in between them.”²³⁰ One domestic worker said, “I share a room and bed with my employer’s fourteen-year-old daughter.”²³¹ Sharing a room with others often meant that domestic workers did not have the ability to take adequate rest time. She told us, “Every night the mother helps the kids to study until 11 p.m.  I have to wait for them to finish before I can sleep….  I do not have a chance to rest.  If I want to lie down during the daytime, I cannot, I cannot rest.”²³²

Many are forced to cut their hair, although the stated reason of hygiene is one that could easily be solved by hairnets.  For example, Eri Sudewo, a domestic worker, said:

My hair was long.  The employer said, ‘You must cut your hair.  If your hair drops on the floor, it’s dirty.  If you don’t cut it, I will cut it.’  I cried, because I didn’t want short hair.  I cried.  She said, I will take you to get your hair cut, if you don’t want to cut it, then go home….  I don’t want to go back home, it’s so shameful.  In my country, we are Muslim.  We go to the mosque, I do not want to go with short hair.  I cried again.  I cried and cried and cried.²³³

The Right to Just and Favorable Conditions of Work

International human rights law protects a spectrum of workers’ rights.  Articles 23 and 24 of the UDHR outline rights to just and favorable conditions of work, remuneration, freedom to form and join trade unions, rest, leisure, reasonable limitations of working hours, and periodic holidays.²³⁴  Article 11(d) of CEDAW delineates the “right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value” and article 11(f) describes the “right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions.”²³⁵

The work conditions of migrant domestic workers often do not meet the minimum standards defined in Singapore law for workers in other employment sectors.  Singapore’s Employment Act sets forth the following labor rights for other employees:  one rest day per week; a rest period after six hours of continuous work, a maximum of forty-four work hours per week, and paid sick leave.²³⁶

By excluding domestic workers from the Employment Act, Singapore’s labor laws fail to comply with international law. One of the explanations that the Singapore government offers in response to criticisms about excluding domestic workers from the Employment Act is the difficulty in enforcing such labor protections and a resulting lack of credibility for the government. Ministry of Manpower officials told Human Rights Watch, “We have considered a standard contract.  Legislation is not the main route.  [Our concern is] if we have legislation and are unable to enforce it.”²³⁷

This argument has several flaws. Intentionally excluding domestic workers from equal treatment in labor laws sends a strong message to employers and employment agents that the government sanctions separate and unequal treatment for domestic workers as a class of employees. These exclusions undermine Singapore’s justice system in a much more profound way—they demonstrate that all persons are not equal before the law. Hong Kong has included domestic workers in their employment laws, and while complete enforcement is a challenge—as with any law—the tens of thousands of workers who congregate on Sundays, form social organizations, and join trade unions is a testament to how many enjoy their right to a weekly day off. Domestic workers in Hong Kong are also entitled to a minimum wage and maternity protections. The Hong Kong government’s inclusion of domestic workers in the employment laws sends a clear message to employers about legally acceptable standards of treatment.

Furthermore, many strategies exist for bolstering enforcement of labor protections for migrant domestic workers. These include raising public awareness, guaranteeing workers’ rights to freedom of movement and freedom to form associations, and improving monitoring systems for employment agencies and workplaces. Many domestic workers do not seek help because of fear they would be repatriated before they can repay their debts or earn something to send home. De-linking domestic workers’ visas from particular employer families could help address this. Other strategies include providing an option to live in independent quarters, keeping written records of hours worked, and supporting drop-in centers for migrant domestic workers on their day off.

Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, and Mistreatment

Physical Abuse

The lady employer kicked me while wearing shoes, would throw things at my head, and pinch me in the stomach.  She beat me for two months before I quit, it was happening everyday….  I had bruises on my legs and on my stomach.
─Dwiyani (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age twenty, Singapore, February 22, 2005

Some migrant domestic workers experience serious physical or sexual abuse. Human Rights Watch interviewed representatives of aid organizations who stated that physical abuse and food deprivation comprised approximately one quarter to half of the cases they dealt with, making it the most commonly reported problem after unpaid wages. Embassies of sending countries also cited physical abuse and food deprivation as among the complaints they received.²³⁸ They noted that physical abuse was a problem not only among employers, but also employment agents.²³⁹

The Singapore government amended its Penal Code in 1998 to increase by 1.5 times the penalties imposed for physical assault, sexual abuse, and forced confinement, if the abuse is committed by an employer against a migrant domestic worker. Between 2001 and 2004, twenty-six employers or household members were convicted and sentenced under this provision. In a possible indication of the deterrent value of the added penalty, the number of cases where employers received warnings from the police or were charged in court fell from 157 cases in 1997 to fifty-nine cases in 2004.²⁴⁰ While this is an important step, Singapore authorities need to do more to ensure that domestic workers know their rights, know how to preserve evidence (such as photos and other evidence of beatings), and are able to access the court system.

Many domestic workers are afraid to approach the police for help, are not aware of where to seek assistance, or refrain from doing so because of the pressure to pay off their debts and earn money.  One domestic worker said, “My employer would pull my hair and slap me.  I had some bruises but didn’t mention it to the police because I was afraid and because I didn’t speak English.  I didn’t know anything….  If I wanted to complain there was nowhere.  I spent too many days just crying.”²⁴¹ 

In many cases, employers used the excuse of mistakes in housework as a justification for punishment.  Adelyn Malana said:

Every time I made a mistake, she pushed me.  If I did the ironing, she looked for small things, she beat me, she beat me hard with a big wooden heavy spoon. She says, where is your brain, eh?  I said, “if you treat me like this, I can’t understand you.”

I was working for four weeks.  She hit me sometimes.  One time, I got black bruises on my foot,….  She hit me on the hands, they would become red….  She pushed me when I carried the electric fan.  It broke, and she said “since my fan broke, you have to pay me.”  She twisted my finger….  I couldn’t work.  I was crying because there was so much pain.  She gave me no medicine.²⁴²

In another case, Ani Khadijah said:

My employer would get angry with me and slap me.  If a little bit, just a little bit was wrong.  She would complain to the agent.  The employer brought me to the agent, and my agent slapped me also.….  Once she slipped on water.  She made me drink four cups of water and she splashed the water on me [when I tried to drink].  The employer was very cruel.  She would slap me over and over again.  Everytime, everyday.

[After I went to the police station], the employer said “I won’t slap you anymore.”  After one week she did.  The baby got sick and she slapped me again.  She said I didn’t give the milk according to the schedule. 

The employer made up stories….  I had to wash hands before giving milk.  She would say I didn’t and slap me…

She would get angry.  She was not just talking, her hand would be doing the talking.²⁴³

In another case documented by Human Rights Watch, a domestic worker said:

If I asked to make a call, she would scold and slap me….  I said I had to call my family, she slapped me….  She slapped me so many times….  The last day [of my employment] she slapped me twice, because I washed the pillow and the black color ran.

Once she asked me to bring her mahjong, but I didn’t know what mahjong was.  She hit me in the hand.  She used to hit me with her hand, sometimes she would punch me in the arm.  Sometimes sir would ask me why it’s red, and I would say, “nothing, I fell down.”

The day I ran away, I bled because she punched me.  Even after three days at the embassy, I still had bruises.²⁴⁴

Human Rights Watch heard many similar stories. One worker told us, “The grandma would get angry.  She would beat me, pinch me, hit me.  That is why I ran away.”²⁴⁵ In another case, the employer tried to humiliate the domestic worker, who said, “Sometimes I wasn’t allowed to use the toilet.  I would have to urinate on a towel.  The employer would cut my clothes, like the sleeves on one side.  She threw dirty mop water on me many times.”²⁴⁶

Physical abuse intersects with many of the other problems that domestic workers confront, including the fear of being sent home before they pay off their debts and earn a salary. A domestic worker said:

If I made a mistake, she would scold me…She would rap my head…She would do it hard, it would hurt.  She would threaten to send me back to the Philippines.  I asked her to forgive me, I needed money for my family.

It was very difficult.  I had a friend next door.  When I threw out the rubbish, I would talk to her. She was an Indonesian maid. Once I was outside just a few minutes….  She was very angry and pinched my two ears.  She pinched and pulled my two ears and blood came out.  This happened twice.

After the [police investigation] finishes, I am going back to the Philippines.  I am going back without anything, it is very difficult.²⁴⁷

Food Deprivation

There was not enough food.  For breakfast I had two pieces of bread….  My employer is very killer [strict].  She counts the bread, she was killer, killer.  When I ate one piece of fish, the employer got angry.  At night I was hungry. When the employer went out, sometimes my neighbor would knock on the door and give me rice to eat. There are still a lot of people like me.  They do not get enough food.  When I worked in the laundry, there was a Filipina next door.  I would meet her when taking out the garbage.  The Filipina worker said she was hungry.  We should get enough to eat.  Because the work is hard, we need to eat.  When I was working in that house, I went from 54 to 40 kilograms.
─Aisyah Fatah (not her real name), domestic worker, age twenty-one, Singapore, March 4, 2005

Human Rights Watch interviewed many domestic workers who did not receive adequate food at their place of employment. The work permit states that employers are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of their domestic worker.  Given that many of these women are unable to move freely outside of their workplace, they are dependent on their employers to provide them enough food. One domestic worker, Mallika Selvi, said, “I get food once a day only.”²⁴⁸ Another domestic worker said she lost 10 kilograms during her first year of employment.²⁴⁹

Adelyn Malana weighed 45 kilograms when she began employment, and weighed only 37 kilograms when she ran away from her employer six months later.  She said:

Sometimes there was not enough food…..  They bought food from outside, but not for me.  When angry, [the employer] would throw my food in the rubbish. I asked permission [to eat rice, but] I got no rice, only bread ….  For breakfast I had two pieces of bread.  At 4 p.m. I took two more pieces of bread…..  I am a human.  I got sick.  I’m far [from home,] who would take care of me if I got sick? I ran away.  I was very scared. My employer told me, “Tomorrow you have a punishment, no eating.”….I took my bag and I ran.  I called my sister, I’m hungry and my employer is no good.  If I stay long, I think I’d go to the hospital.  I would get an ulcer.  I want to eat everyday, I want to eat enough.²⁵⁰

Bayuningsih’s employer locked her inside the house and locked the kitchen door when she left the house so Bayuningsih could not eat the food.  This employer not only denied her food, but would spoil it so that it would be inedible.  She told Human Rights Watch:

My employer would get angry.  If there was no food to eat, she would say, “I don’t care, drink water.  When you finish working, then I will give you food.” When I finished work, she would tell me to go to sleep. Once when my employer got angry, she put soap in my tin of food and I couldn’t eat it.  But I ate it anyway because I was so hungry. The outside door was locked.  All the doors were locked, only the bathroom was open.  The kitchen was locked.  [Sometimes] for one day, sometimes for one week at a time, I would never eat anything.  I was hungry, what could I do? I was hungry.²⁵¹           

Lalitha Ranjanie, another domestic worker, said, “If I took fish and vegetables on my plate, my employer would say, ‘you take so much, take some out’….  [Once] for three days they stopped giving me food.”²⁵² Many domestic workers reported that they ate leftovers, and if there were not enough, they would be hungry.²⁵³  One domestic worker told Human Rights Watch, “When I cooked in the evening, my employer said I should make extra for my breakfast and lunch, but if I cooked a lot, the employer would be angry at me for eating too much.  In the evening, I would get the leftovers, and if there were no leftovers, I would only eat rice.”²⁵⁴ Sri Mulyani said, “I only ate once a day at 7p.m.  I never took lunch.  I was asked to cook only a little bit of food, and I was afraid the kids wouldn’t have enough to eat.  For example, if we were eating chicken wings, the employer would tell me to buy three for the kids, and then there wouldn’t be enough for me.  I would drink a lot of water.”²⁵⁵

Human Rights Watch interviewed employment agents who both verified that food deprivation was a problem with some employers, but suggested that some domestic workers were too shy to ask for food. One agent said, “Sometimes a maid will say, ‘I don’t get to eat between breakfast and dinner.’  Not because the employers said no, but because they dare not to eat.  We call our clients and say, ‘please tell the maid she can eat or that she doesn’t have to wait until 8 p.m./dinner.’”²⁵⁶

Domestic workers confront hardship not only because of a lack of food, but because of the timing of meals and the lack of continuous rest breaks.  One worker, age twenty-four, said, “In the morning [the employer] wanted me to clean before taking breakfast.  My stomach was empty.”²⁵⁷ Other domestic workers described their workload and the lack of continuous periods of rest that prevented them from eating. Pertiwisari explained, “If I don’t finish my work, I cannot sleep, [my employer] said.  Sometimes I didn’t eat lunch.  For breakfast I prefer to eat bread, but my employer said, ‘why buy bread, the children don’t eat it.’  So I only took water.”²⁵⁸

Human Rights Watch found a range of opinions among employment agents about food deprivation.  Some agents challenge the claims of domestic workers. For example, several employment agents told Human Rights Watch in a meeting, “FDWs [foreign domestic workers] have accused agents of not providing enough food.  They lie.  If they are choosy about food, they don’t say.  It is a lie.”²⁵⁹ Other employment agents expressed concern and took active measures to address the problem. Human Rights Watch interviewed an employment agent who said, “Some maids lose 5 kilograms in one month. We keep a scale in the office.  Agents are supposed to protect both parties.  If the employer abuses the maid, we won’t give them another maid.”²⁶⁰

Many domestic workers depend on the kindness of neighbors and fellow domestic workers. Human Rights Watch interviewed several domestic workers who said that if their employer did not provide them with adequate food, they had neighbors who would try to sneak them food from open windows. One domestic worker said:

I had a friend on the second floor. I was working on the third floor.  During morning and lunch, I didn’t get anything to eat.  My friend often gave me food.  I would pull food up using yarn, my friend would help by pushing it with a mop.²⁶¹

Another worker, Budi Puspita, said, “My friend has a problem with her employer. The employer doesn’t give her enough food, they abuse her.  She can’t talk [or go out.]  We call her from the intercom downstairs.”²⁶²

Sexual Abuse and Harassment

 [Crying and whispering]  He asked me to have sex with him….  Why do domestic workers always have to submit?  I never follow his wish.  I lie to him.  I am afraid that some day he will really force me….  When his wife is not at home, he approaches me….  The employer’s bad behavior is why I want to go home.  If it is bad words, I can take it.  I prefer being hit or bad words to this. 

If I change employers, the salary will be deducted again.  If I change employers, it will become a one year and six month deduction.  I will remain at the house as long as they don’t do anything to me….  I don’t want anyone to know.  Even my best friend doesn’t know…What would I say to the lady employer?  I don’t want to tell the agent, he has threatened me.        
─Dewi Hariyanti (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age twenty, Singapore, February 27, 2005

Migrant domestic workers are at risk of sexual harassment and abuse by their employers. Although our research and indications from the Ministry of Manpower, sending countries’ embassies, and service agencies suggest that sexual abuse comprises a relatively small proportion of complaints made by migrant domestic workers, the severity of the abuse makes it a cause for particular concern. Underreporting is likely a significant problem due to domestic workers’ isolation in the workplace and the deep social stigma attached to sexual assault. This stigma may be especially strong in their home countries.

The forms of abuse vary. Marites Padilla, a twenty-nine-year-old Filipina domestic worker said her male employer sexually harassed her in the mornings when her female employer left early for work. Weeping, she told Human Rights Watch:

The room is open, there is never a closed door….  I could see [my employer] naked, I could see him masturbating. The first time I ignored it.  But it happened every time. The first time I thought it was a coincidence.  Then how many times already.  This happened for over a year. One time, I knew mom was not going to be home.  The kids were still sleeping….  Every morning, I felt nervous and scared….  He called me, he was standing in the door of the room I was cleaning.  I saw him naked below.  He called me to bring his underwear to him….  I put it on the doorknob, and I said, “sir, your underwear.”  He asked me to iron it. He was still naked, he really exposed his private parts.  I was very angry.²⁶³

A domestic worker, Muriyani Suharti, told Human Rights Watch:

I was threatened, if I didn’t sleep with my employer, they would send me to Batam.  Once or twice a week I was forced to sleep with him.  If I was angry with him, he would want me.  They said they would sell me to Batam where I would be taken by a lot of men.²⁶⁴

Even if a domestic worker turns to her embassy or the police, these authorities sometimes fail to investigate the case properly or release her back into the custody of an employment agency. Employment agencies often fail to report abuses or to provide necessary aid and referrals.

Domestic workers told Human Rights Watch they do not know where to turn. Suharti, described above, unsuccessfully sought help from the police and was returned to her employment agency. She said:

After two months I couldn’t take it anymore, so I ran away.  I went to the mosque….  I asked [for help to] report to the police. After that the police came and took me and I said how the employer forced me.  That time the police put me in jail.  I don’t know why, I got angry. “Why are you putting me here? I’m not a criminal.” The police said, “this is a safe place for you.” After two days, the agency came and took me.²⁶⁵

Domestic workers are at increased risk for abuse if agents illegally deploy them for part-time work to multiple employers. Neerangini, an Indian domestic worker told us how her agent sent her to several households and withheld her wages. For seven days, she worked in the house of a man whose family was traveling abroad. She said:

I couldn’t fight him off, he threatened me….  It felt dirty, painful….  He threatened me, “I paid money to bring you here to work.” I said, “You didn’t tell me what kind of work.  You didn’t buy me to rape me but for a job.  I didn’t come for this kind of job.  I have a husband and children, I know family life.”  He didn’t show sympathy….  I was begging on my hands and knees, “let me use the phone.”²⁶⁶

Verbal Abuse and Threats

My employers used only abusive words.  They didn’t hit me…they would say things like “why don’t you jump out of the window?  Rather than thinking about your parents, it would be better if you just committed suicide by jumping out the window.” The wife was really angry and used bad words.  She called me a pig, a prostitute, an easy woman.
─Sri Mulyani (not her real name), Indonesian domestic worker, age thirty, Singapore, February 19, 2005

Verbal and psychological abuse by employers serves to belittle, intimidate, and further isolate domestic workers. One common threat, women said, was that they would be sent back to their home countries, a frightening prospect to women who have huge debts to repay or fear punishment from labor agents. Ministry of Manpower officials told Human Rights Watch, “Employers take the threat of repatriation lightly, but it has a big psychological impact.”²⁶⁷ As mentioned above, Lilia Jornadal’s employer hit her and would threaten to send her back to the Philippines.²⁶⁸ One domestic worker, Aisyah Fatah, told us:

My employer got angry every day….  One time, she threatened me, “do you want me to hit you?” She threatened often to send me back.  I was not allowed to talk to other people.  Next door, there was also an Indonesian, I was not allowed to talk to her.  If I was caught, I was told I could be sent back.²⁶⁹

Verbal abuse often goes together with long work hours and unreasonable work expectations. Dewi Hariyanti told us, “If I make a little mistake, [my employer] often uses harsh words, shouts.  His wife also gets angry with me.  Sometimes they say, “you prawn brain.”  They say too much, I do not want to remember.”²⁷⁰ Employers often exhibited abusive control by monitoring domestic workers’ every movement or forcing them to repeat tasks.  Adelyn Malana told Human Rights Watch:

Even simple cleaning I couldn’t do without permission from her.  If I mopped the floor or cleaned the table, she was very angry and punished me. Everyday there was a quarrel….  I didn’t know what to do.  I was very scared because she was very angry. Sometimes in one week, every day she’s angry.  Sometimes I forgot to do things or made mistakes, [for example] I put the bedsheet and bedcover together in the wash instead of separate. She would make me mop the floor ten times in one day because of a very small mistake. She would ask, “Why do you make me angry?”²⁷¹

Domestic workers reported name-calling and other derogatory statements. Milagros Baluyot said that her employer, “always gets angry and I have to take the blame….  If he loses his keys, it’s my fault.  ‘You bloody, fucking maid!’  He will say this in the middle of the street.”²⁷² Human Rights Watch interviewed Lalitha Ranjanie, a domestic worker who said, “The people of the house call me stupid, an idiot, they use every bad word. … They tell me I am a bad lady, like a prostitute.”²⁷³ Muriyani Suharti said, “Everyday, my employer would get angry.  Everyday they would call me an idiot and stupid.  They even used ‘idiot’ as my name.”²⁷⁴

The Right to Security of Person and Freedom from Discrimination

International human rights law establishes the security of person, and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.²⁷⁵  In the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United Nations stated that governments have an obligation to “prevent, investigate, and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by states or by private persons.”²⁷⁶  A state’s consistent failure to do so amounts to unequal and discriminatory treatment, and constitutes a contravention of the state’s obligation to guarantee women equal protection of the law.²⁷⁷

The ILO’s Committee of Experts considers that sexual harassment falls within the scope of the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention.  The CEDAW Committee has commented that sexual harassment includes:

unwelcome sexually determined behaviour as physical contact and advances, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography and sexual demand, whether by words or actions. Such conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety problem; it is discriminatory when the woman has reasonable grounds to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her employment, including recruitment and promotion, or when it creates a hostile working environment.²⁷⁸

The Singapore government has a responsibility to address the psychological, verbal, physical, and sexual violence that migrant domestic workers encounter. Singapore has indicated that abuse against domestic workers is a serious offense, b