As an employer, you need to meet the eligibility criteria before hiring a foreign domestic worker (FDW).
You can apply for a second FDW if you have caregiving needs, such as:
You will also be assessed on your financial ability to hire, maintain and upkeep more than one FDW in acceptable accommodation as above.
As an employer, you are responsible for the health and well-being of your foreign domestic worker (FDW). You should provide for rest days, proper accommodation, adequate medical care and safe work conditions.
Rest days To ensure that your foreign domestic worker gets enough mental and physical rest, you should allow her to have a regular rest day.
Your FDW is entitled to a weekly rest day if her Work Permit was issued or renewed after 1 January 2013.
You and your FDW should mutually agree on which day of the week she should take the rest day. To avoid disputes, both of you could have this agreement in writing.
If your FDW agrees to work on her rest day, you should compensate her with one of the following:
For more info on rest day requirements: http://www.mom.gov.sg/~/media/mom/documents/publications/infocus/infocus-issue-special-rest-day.pdf
You will have to pay a levy for your foreign domestic worker (FDW) every month using GIRO.
What is the foreign worker levy?
The foreign worker levy, commonly known as “levy”, is a pricing mechanism to regulate the number of foreign workers in Singapore.
As an employer, you don't have to pay Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions for your FDW. However, you must a pay monthly levy for her.
If your FDW is a first-time FDW, the levy will begin on the 5th day of her arrival (including the arrival date). Otherwise, the levy will begin the next day after she arrives.
The levy ends when the Work Permit is cancelled or expires.
The levy rate for FDWs is as follows:
Type of levy | Monthly rate | Daily rate |
Normal | $265 | $8.72 |
Concessionary | $60 | $1.98 |
Daily levy rate applies only to workers who did not complete a full calendar month. The daily levy rate is calculated as follows: (Monthly levy rate x 12) / 365 = rounding up to the nearest cent.
The concessionary rate applies to families with a young child, elderly member or person with disability. Find out if you qualify for levy concession under our “Levy Concession” help section.
You must pay the levy via General Interbank Recurring Order (GIRO).The levy for each month will be automatically deducted from your bank account on the 17th of the following month (or the next working day if it falls on a weekend or public holiday). You should maintain enough funds in your account before the deduction date.
The FDW Grant is administered by the Centre for Enabled Living (CEL). More details, including the application process and pre-requisite training is available on the CEL website
(http://www.cel.sg). For further clarification, employers may wish to contact CEL at their infoline 1800 8585 885.
You must pay your foreign domestic worker (FDW) the monthly salary that you declare to us. You need to pay the salary within 7 days of the end of the month.
As part of the Work Permit application, you must declare the fixed monthly salary that your FDW will be receiving.
The salary period must not exceed 1 month.
It is not advisable for you to hold your FDW's salary for safekeeping as this can lead to misunderstandings if the employment relationship turns sour or if either party decides to end the employment relationship prematurely. You should allow your FDW to manage her own salary to minimise unnecessary misunderstandings.
How to pay
You can transfer the salary directly into the FDW’s bank account in Singapore. The bank book should be kept by your FDW.
If salaries are paid in cash, you must keep a record of the salary and be able to produce this record if requested. Both you and your FDW should sign the record to confirm that payment is made.
Salary adjustments
You could consider raising your FDW's salary periodically as a reward for good performance and loyalty in service.
You can also consider giving the FDW a contract gratuity. This money can be paid to the FDW when she ends her contract with you.
This incentive, which both of you should agree on, could motivate her to perform better.
Initial difficulties
A new FDW from a rural area may encounter some of these difficulties:
Accommodation
You need to ensure that your FDW's accommodation meets the following requirements:
Adequate Food
An example of a day’s food intake for a female engaged in moderate activity is as follows:
Be sensitive to your FDW’s needs when it comes to food. Do not force your FDW to eat food that she is not supposed to or is not comfortable with. For example, your FDW may not be able to eat certain food due to her religious beliefs, or she may not be accustomed to your family’s dietary requirements (e.g. vegetarian food or porridge).
Medical care
As an employer, you are responsible for your FDW’s medical needs.
You need to bear the full cost of any medical care, including hospitalisation, and provide her with medical and personal accident insurance.
Open communication
You FDW may experience homesickness and loneliness. You can help her cope with those feelings by teaching her how she could contact her family and how she could send letters home.
Family integration
You should try your best to integrate your FDW into your family. You can do that by being patient and tolerant and making an effort to understand her background.
Disputes with your FDW might arise because of misunderstandings and differing expectations.
When these happen, you should first try to resolve them with your FDW. Even if there is suspicion that she might have committed a misdeed, you should not take matters into your own hands by punishing her. You should report any criminal matters to the authorities.
Our employment agency will also provide counselling and mediators for any disputes with your FDW.
A foreign domestic worker (FDW)’s deployment must comply withWork Permit conditions. As an employer, you will be penalised if you illegally deploy her to work for someone else or perform non-domestic chores.
An FDW:
You can deploy your FDW to work at another address only if she is there to look after your young children or elderly parents.
Penalties
Forillegally deploying an FDW, the penalty is a fine of up to $10,000. Convicted employers may also be banned from employing FDWs.
For employing an FDW without a valid Work Permit, the penalty is a fine between $5,000 and $30,000, or imprisonment for up to 1 year, or both. For subsequent convictions, offenders face mandatory imprisonment.
When your foreign domestic worker (FDW)'s employment ends, you need to complete certain steps before she departs for her home country.
When a FDW's employment ends, you need to:
Our agency will offer to take back our FDWs for you if your contract with the FDW ends. We suggest that doing so will save you the cost of sending the FDW home and we can apply a new FDW for you and transfer your ex-FDW to another employer.