Measures to Prevent Abuse of Foreign Domestic Workers

3 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what education is currently provided to the employers of migrant domestic workers about duties of care and behaviour that may constitute abuse; (b) what recourse do domestic workers and bystanders have should they experience or witness abuse; and (c) what is being done to actively reduce abuse and review such frameworks for improvement.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang) (for the Minister for Manpower): The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) adopts a three-pronged approach to protect foreign domestic workers against abuses.

First, we educate employers on their responsibilities of care towards their foreign domestic workers through the Employers' Orientation Programme (EOP) such as the provision of adequate food and rest, and acceptable accommodation for their foreign domestic workers. Employers are also reminded that the acts of mistreatment and abuse, including threats and physical punishment, are not tolerated and there are heavy penalties for offenders. Similarly, during the Settling-In Programme (SIP), all newly-arrived foreign domestic workers are educated on their rights and channels to seek help should they encounter any well-being issues. For example, foreign domestic workers can call the Police if they are abused, or the hotlines set up by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) if they have employment difficulties or other well-being issues.

Second, we work with CDE to conduct interviews with first-time foreign domestic workers in their native language, within the first few months of their employment. It is a form of check-in with the workers to ensure that they have settled well in their jobs. It also helps us detect problems and cases of abuse early. In addition, since 2017, doctors are asked in the six-monthly medical examination form to report to the Police or MOM immediately if they spot signs of abuse during the mandatory six-monthly medical examination.

Third, as a strong deterrent, the Penal Code was enhanced in 2020 to double the punishment against individuals who abuse vulnerable victims, including foreign domestic workers.

In Parliament last week, various Members, including Mr Desmond Choo, Ms Carrie Tan and Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked about measures to prevent foreign domestic workers' abuse. While most employers make an effort to build good relationships with their foreign domestic workers, some treat them unreasonably. To strengthen support for foreign domestic workers and reduce the incidence of abuse, MOM is reviewing measures in three areas.

First, making greater use of existing touch points with foreign domestic workers. Employment agents should have an interest to make sure that the foreign domestic workers that they place settle in well, especially those who are working in Singapore for the first time. One-on-one interviews, also for the newly arrived foreign domestic workers, when they start with new employers, will also be enhanced. We are also looking at mandatory off days for foreign domestic workers to be able to interact with the community and to seek help should they need to.

Second, in terms of the reporting by doctors, we will work with the medical fraternity to better identify signs of abuse or distress.

Third, our partner organisations like CDE and Forward Assurance and Support Team, or FAST, can also expand their outreach and engagement, to strengthen the network of support to foreign domestic workers.

MOM will provide an update on the review in due course.

As echoed by Members of this House and Singaporeans, abuse of foreign domestic workers must not be tolerated. We will work together with the stakeholders to strengthen support for foreign domestic workers and build a culture of respect for them, in our homes and in the community.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I thank the Minister of State for her response. I understand that she said that doctors are now required during the six-monthly medical examination to check for signs of abuse. My question is that, are there right now any professional or legal consequences for doctors who fail to report suspected abuse in their patients? If there are not, are there plans to increase the penalties for non reporting? Because I understand right now the Singapore Medical Council, or SMC's ethical code only obliges doctors to report suspected abuse if their patient has diminished mental capacity or is a minor.

Secondly, does MOM have any plans to – or does MOM currently screen prospective employers of at foreign domestic workers for potential red flags? For example, past incidents of violent behaviour, police reports made against them and so on.

Lastly, for an abused domestic worker who has no phone or day off, how would they be able to report abuse?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: We are working with the medical fraternity to look at how to make it more objective for the doctors to detect and to report suspected cases of abuse. Currently, it is in the form where doctors are required to report if they detect signs of distress or abuse. To my knowledge, I think the main issue now is that it may not be so easy and discernible for doctors to detect abuse cases. It does require some objectivity in this review and that is exactly what we are doing with the medical fraternity.

The second point about screening of employers, we do take note of employers of foreign domestic workers where past complaints were lodged against them. We also take note of employers who frequently change their foreign domestic workers. There is also feedback that we sometimes we receive on employers, feedback given to us by public members or neighbours. So, these are things that we take into account when we assess the suitability of employers for hiring foreign domestic workers.

The third, for foreign domestic workers who currently do not have a day off or have mobile phones, we do reach out to them, principally, through the one-on-one interviews that CDE conducts with domestic workers in their native language. These interviews have been very useful in helping us to detect signs of distress early in the foreign domestic workers. We also rely on public members, neighbours, the community-at-large to help sport cases of mistreatment of foreign domestic workers.

Going forward, we will want to look at other ways to strengthen the touch points that will allow us to detect cases of abuse early. I have covered some of them earlier on.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): May I ask the Minister of State, how does MOM balance the interests of employers who may be falsely accused by the foreign domestic worker? I have received feedback that there are occasions when a foreign domestic worker may not want to work with a particular family, because they have to look after the elderly or the house is too big, so they lodge a complaint to their Embassy. At the end of the day, no further action was taken against the employee and the foreign domestic then gets a free transfer out. Meanwhile, the employer is stuck because he is not allowed to hire another foreign domestic worker. He is also stuck in the sense that he has this so-called report made against him.

So, how do we balance the interests of the foreign domestic worker versus an innocent employer who may be desperately looking to get another worker?

Ms Gan Siow Huang: The Member Mr Lim Biow Chuan has raised a very good point. Just as there are cases of employers mistreating foreign domestic workers, MOM also receives reports and complaints from employers about foreign domestic workers who are of poor conduct, poor performance, and sometimes, mistreating the people who they are supposed to help to take care of.

What MOM does is really, we will have our investigating officers to look into the facts of the case. Usually, it involves a series of interviews with both employers and employees, and we look at evidence to draw a conclusion on what could have caused the problem. Very often, it actually has to do with miscommunication. Very often also, it is because of poor understanding of what employers are expected to do, what the foreign domestic workers are expected to do. That is when we will also step in to clarify with both parties.

I think it is absolutely important that we try to improve the match between the employer and the foreign domestic worker. Some employers may have certain special requirements or may have standards that are higher than the others. Some foreign domestic workers may have more capacity than others when it comes to work. We also recognise that our foreign domestic workers come from different countries with different cultural practices and norms, and skills and readiness to work. What we want to do is to make sure that foreign domestic workers who are deployed to the households are able to fit well. If there is poor fit, either from the perspective of the foreign domestic worker or from the employer, I think it is best that we try to adjust to redeploy the foreign domestic worker to other households, instead of forcefully and prolonging the problem for both parties.

So, really, the answer is in improving communication, clarifying the roles of both the employer as well as to domestic worker. And thirdly, investigation to make sure we get to the root of the problem. But ultimately, for the sake of the employer as well as the foreign domestic worker, we want to make sure that they have a good relationship with each other and are able to get along well.

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I filed a Parliamentary Question on this, so I thought it is an opportune time for me to raise it. I thank the Minister of State for sharing the three-prong approach to better protect our foreign domestic workers here.

I have two clarifications on touchpoints. I propose that perhaps to increase the touchpoints or whether or not there can be some mandatory requirement for the employment agencies to have some responsibilities throughout the period of employment of the foreign domestic workers.

Secondly, beyond physical health, maybe we should also look at the mental health and the state of mind of the of the foreign domestic workers, whether there can be any checks in terms of psychological treatment and counselling for the workers during the period of time? If the task force can can take a look at those areas as well.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank the Member for the suggestions. I think these are good suggestions, which we will take into consideration. Currently, for employment agencies, although it is not mandated for them to check in on the foreign domestic workers, we do know of some employment agencies that take the extra step in checking with the employers as well as the foreign domestic workers on the state of well-being, whether they are getting along well and whether there are adjustment issues. We think this is a good practice and there is scope for us look at institutionalising it, so that there is one more touchpoint for foreign domestic workers to raise concerns if they do encounter problems in the first few months of their employment, especially for those who are working in Singapore for the first time.

As to checking on the mental health and providing counselling or support, I think this is certainly an area that we will be interested to pursue.

10.30 am

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. End of question time. The Clerk will now proceed to read the orders of the day.

[Pursuant to Standing Order No 22(3), Written Answers to Question Nos 4-6 on the Order Paper are reproduced in the Appendix.]