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Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo Minister for Manpower to PQ on IPA Letters Issued for FDWs With Zero Rest Days

Foreign manpower Work passes and permits

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1989 OF 2020 FOR SITTING ON 18 FEBRUARY

QUESTION NO. 1605 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

NMP: Ms Anthea Ong

To ask the Minister for Manpower in the last five years, how many In-Principle Approval (IPA) letters has the Ministry issued for foreign domestic workers with zero rest days declared. 

Answer

  1. Employers are required to provide their Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) with a weekly rest day. If an FDW agrees to work on her rest day, her employer is required to provide compensation in lieu of the rest day.
  2. Based on information collected by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) over the past four years, about 20% of FDWs agreed to be compensated in lieu for all their rest days at the point of work permit application. Nonetheless, FDWs and employers tend to subsequently make changes to the rest day arrangements during the employment period, based on mutual agreement. For example, some FDWs may wish to take more rest days per month after they have paid off their placement loan. Based on MOM’s survey with FDWs in 2015, 98% of FDWs surveyed had at least one rest day a month. This is consistent with a survey of FDWs conducted by the Centre for Domestic Employees in 2017, where 96% had at least one rest day a month.