Maid asks: What to do if your employer took your room and made you sleep in the kitchen?

Without giving much detail or any context to her post, a foreign domestic worker took to social media asking for advice on what to do when she was made to sleep in the kitchen.

In a Facebook post last Saturday (Aug 6), the helper posed her question to the FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum) group. She asked: “What to do if your employer took your room and made you sleep in the kitchen?”.

Despite not giving any other information as to how long these sleeping arrangements were for, or if her employer had given her a reason as to why she was evicted, the helper’s post garnered over 180 reactions and 47 comments.

Most of the responses were from other maids who had experienced similar situations. Many also urged the helper to contact the Manpower Ministry (MOM) for help. There were also others who asked her to try communicating with her employer because going to MOM might lead to her employers sending her back to her home country.

Here’s what they said: The helper who asked her question was definitely not alone. Last year, another domestic helper turned to posting her woes on social media after she found that the family she was working for was not giving her enough rest or privacy.

In a post to a help group for foreign domestic workers in Singapore, one Ms S wrote that she was very patient with her working situation.

She explained that she was required to work from 8 am to 12:30 am, with most of her work only ending at that time.

She wrote that she slept in the corner of the kitchen, with her bed placed there.

In her post, Ms S added that she was not able to sleep well because often as she lay on her bed, the family still came to the kitchen, and she was disturbed.

Earlier this year, yet another domestic helper wrote that she was forced to share a room with her employer’s daughter, but the daughter would often leave the lights on, listen to music and talk on the phone till 3 am.

The foreign domestic worker took to social media to ask her friends for help when the family she was working for did not give her sufficient rest or privacy.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Apr 27), a netizen who went by the name Khriz Omandac Alabado wrote that she was sharing a problem her friend faced.

Ms Alabado shared her post to the Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum), where she wrote that her friend had been with her employer for four months.

Having to share a room with her employer’s daughter, the domestic helper wrote that the daughter would often come back home very late and switch on the room lights.

The daughter would also listen to music or talk on the phone until 2 am or 3 am sometimes, Ms Alabado wrote. As a result, the domestic worker would often be without sufficient sleep or rest.

Maid forced to share room with employer’s daughter, but daughter leaves lights on, listens to music & chats on phone till 3am