In this letter—a response to concerns from AWARE and HOME about its new transfer rules for foreign/migrant domestic workers (FDWs or MDWs)—the Ministry of Manpower notes that “the FDW, just like the employer, retains the flexibility to end the contract at any time. The employment agency can cancel the work permit when the FDW is agreeable and ready to transfer”.

However, in pointing out that FDWs have the option to end their own contracts, MOM may not be taking into account the complex power differential between FDWs and employers.

For one, while employers are encouraged to document agreements between themselves and agencies, they are not required to document the FDW’s consent to be transferred. As HOME put it, “As we give employers and [employment agencies] more power to determine the fate of MDWs’ livelihoods, the same power is not given to MDWs to control their own circumstances. The power imbalance between MDWs on the one hand, and employers and EAs on the other, remains entrenched.”

Secondly, employers have the last say in FDWs’ transfer requests (unless there are MOM or police investigations involved). It is unclear how FDWs can initiate or reject a transfer on their own. In HOME’s experience, it was rare for employers to give transfers pre-COVID-19. Many times, when the working relationship had broken down, employers simply wanted to send the worker back to their home country to “punish” them (even though they would have to bear the repatriation costs). HOME commonly heard from employers that they didn’t want to “subject” another family to the same worker.

Even when employers are under investigation by the police or MOM, FDWs’ rights to work in another household during the investigation period is subject to approval from the relevant authorities.

All this contradicts the idea that FDWs have equal say in their right to work as compared to all other parties involved.

Lastly, employers can circumvent agencies and transfer FDWs directly to another employer—a process that again only involves documentation of agreement between the two employers, not the FDW. MOM’s point that “the employment agency can cancel the work permit when the FDW is agreeable and ready to transfer” therefore does not always apply.

We continue to worry that there are not enough measures in place to protect FDWs’ interests and well-being during these transfers.