Ministry of Manpower Use of maid to clean the office
Mr. K employed a maid for his 4 room HDB flat. He runs a small office nearby to operate a small business. It is his main source of income.

He asked his maid to clean the office once a week and paid her an allowance for the additional work. This arrangement worked well for some time.

Later, there was a misunderstanding between Mr. K and her maid. She threatened to report to MOM that Mr. K had used her to clean the office, which was not allowed under the MOM approval letter.

Mr. K had no choice but to pay her a compensation (amount not disclosed) to avoid getting into trouble with MOM. Mr. K sent the maid back to her country.

Mr. K was disappointed that the restrictive terms imposed by MOM had caused him to be in trouble. He considered that his small office to be an extension of his home. The maid did not have to spend much time cleaning his small HDB flat anyway.

Prior to appointing the maid, he had agreed with her that she should clean the office and be paid an allowance. Later, she used it to put him under ransom.

Mr. K felt that MOM should be more flexible in the approval letter and allow him to treat his office as an extension of his home. After all, the maid spends only 2 hours a week to clean the office. 

Should MOM be more flexible to allow the maid to be used outside of the main place of work provided that the time spent is kept at less than 8 hours a week, i.e. 20% of the normal working hours?

Tan Kin Lian
 

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