Maid asks if her employer is responsible to book connecting flight ticket to her home town in addition to origin country; employer only agreed to latter

A foreign domestic worker who felt shortchanged asked if her employer was responsible to book not only a flight to her home country but also a connecting flight to her home town.

In an anonymous Facebook post to popular page FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid wrote: “Hi everyone may i ask if the employer is responsible to book my ticket connecting to my home town?”

In her post on Monday (Sep 12), she added that her employer only said they could book a ticket to her origin country. Her employer disagreed when the maid asked if a ticket could be booked that connected her to the airport near her home town.

In response, her employer declined after checking with the helper’s agent.

The maid then took to social media, asking others for advice on what to do.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, the employers are required to buy their helper “an air ticket to the international airport in her home country, nearest to her hometown”. As a netizen mentioned, this did not specify a domestic airport near the helper’s hometown.

Here’s what other netizens said:

Maid went back hometown cos she can’t stand her employer, but her work permit was not cancelled, so she’s unable to work for another employer, agency doesn’t care

Last week, a foreign domestic helper who went back to her hometown on vacation decided to run away and start her own business.

In an anonymous post to Facebook page FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), the maid’s employer wrote on Monday (Sep 5): “We went on a holiday and out of kindness we sent our helper back to her hometown for her own vacation. we also acceded to her request of additional advance salary for her to go home”.

The employer added that their maid ran into personal problems at home and unilaterally decided not to return to Singapore. When her employers tried contacting her, she did not respond to any calls or messages.

After some time, the employer realised that their maid ran away to start her own e-commerce business. They cancelled her work permit and filed a police report.

However, in their post, the employer added: “We have an infant and a toddler and are in urgent need of help. Any advice?”

Maid who went back to her hometown on holiday actually ran away to start her own e-commerce business