If you have kept a maid in your house, then you would know that maids work in many houses other than yours, but a case related to this has come up in Singapore, which has surprised everyone. Actually, a maid living here had to pay a heavy price for working in many places for extra salary. A Singapore court has imposed a hefty fine of 13,000 Singaporean dollars i.e. about 8.8 lakh rupees on a woman who secretly did cleaning work apart from her official job.
Not only this, the authorities have also taken action against one of her illegal employers and fined him 7,000 Singaporean dollars. According to a Channel News Asia report, the information about the maid working at multiple places simultaneously was received by the Human Resources Ministry in December 2024. After that the matter was investigated and the allegations leveled against the woman were found to be true, after which action was taken against her.
According to media reports, 53-year-old Pido Erlinda Ocampo was legally employed in Singapore since 1994 and has worked for four official employers during her career. However, she also worked part-time as a house cleaner for 64-year-old Soh Oi Bak between April 2018 and February 2020, and then again from March 2022 to September 2024 after the COVID-19 restrictions were eased.
The maid used to work at 2 placesThe woman earned 375 Singaporean dollars per month by cleaning Soh's house in 2 to 4-hour shifts two to three times a month on her official working days. In the court hearing, Soh admitted that he had hired the woman despite knowing that she worked elsewhere. Soh had also suggested Erlinda's name to his employer Pulak Prasad, as he needed a part-time domestic help. After the conversation, Erlinda started working for Pulak Prasad from September 2019 to February 2020 and then after the pandemic, from March 2022 to September 2024. She used to clean the man's house twice a month.
What are the rules in Singapore?In fact, it is illegal for foreign domestic helpers in Singapore to work anywhere other than their official employer. If someone tries to break this law, he can be fined up to 20 thousand Singaporean dollars and jailed for up to two years or both. Singapore law also punishes the employer in such cases of illegal employment and can be fined from 5,000 to 30,000 Singaporean dollars and jailed for one year or both.
PC:TV9Bharatvarsh