#RestDayAllDay Campaign: Towards 24-Hour Rest Days for Singapore's Migrant Domestic Workers

30 June 2023

In 1978, Singapore implemented the Foreign Maids Scheme (FMS), which allowed migrant domestic workers (MDWs) to be hired by local families in order to encourage Singaporean women to join the workforce. However, it was only more than three decades later, in 2013, that the law was amended to mandate weekly rest days for MDWs. While a welcome change, all rest days could still be waived as long as employers rendered due compensation. MDWs, therefore, were not truly guaranteed a rest day during the course of their employment in Singapore. In 2019, a Parliamentary Question by Nominated Member of Parliament Anthea Ong revealed that about 20% of employers in Singapore who applied for a work permit for their MDWs declared to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) that they would not give them any days off. Advocacy groups, including HOME, sought to implement rest days as mandatory in order to ensure that MDWs get the rest they need, and be able to seek timely help in the event they are being abused or exploited. 

After almost a decade’s worth of advocacy to further protect MDWs’ rights to proper rest, the rest day policy was modified effective beginning of 2023, requiring all employers to provide MDWs one full rest day or two half-days per month that cannot be compensated away. "This [mandatory rest day] will provide more opportunities for MDWs to form a network of support outside the household, as well as rest and recharge from work," said MOM, when this law was announced.  Again, this is a welcome change. But we argue that further action regarding the rest day issue must be taken: Foremost among these steps is clearly defining the rest day as 24 continuous hours, during which no work can be done by the domestic worker. In the rest of this article, we provide international legal and human rights frameworks alongside submitting evidence from our casework files to justify the need for such a 24-hour rest day. 

Current guidelines regarding what constitutes a rest day still leave employers a lot of power to determine their MDW’s rest day arrangements. A brochure that was released when the mandatory rest day was announced stated that several employers give workers at least eight hours of rest on an agreed-upon day of the month, tacitly approving practices where an MDW’s day off still involves them rendering some degree of work. Beyond the possibility of MDWs still having to do chores such as cooking and cleaning for their employers on rest days (as our casework experience tells us), approving rest days that are only “at least” eight hours, and which can be split into two half-days do not allow MDWs to enjoy the full complement of rest days—which should be uninterrupted, and free from work. 

The same guide has emphasized the capacity of the MDW to negotiate rest day hours. However, this suggestion ignores the inherent imbalance of power between MDW and employer. Most MDWs are afraid of getting on the bad side of their employers, as the latter can unilaterally decide to terminate MDW employment. Some MDWs also have minimal to no fluency with the English language, making it difficult for them to properly negotiate better working conditions for themselves. 

In another Parliamentary Question on whether the mandatory rest day would be defined as 24 hours, MOM responded that they do not wish to impose “overly rigid” regulations on MDW employers. Unfortunately, this puts the MDW at a further disadvantage in a work situation that already disenfranchises them, by giving employers the leeway to impose work on MDWs during hours which must be at their disposal to rest. For instance, the mandatory rest day guidelines state that the “employers and MDWs should openly discuss their respective needs and mutually agree on the rest day arrangements”. But what if the so-called mutual agreement is not genuinely mutual at all, and the MDW, out of fear of being scolded, or worse, losing her job, acquiesces to the employer’s demands? While it is right to acknowledge the agency of the MDW in the workplace, the field must be levelled such that there is guaranteed, adequate rest for MDWs, especially those who might not be able to negotiate for rest day hours agreeable to themselves.

Accounting for such imbalances in power, the International Labor Organization (ILO), in the Domestic Workers’ Convention (C189), has stipulated that all domestic workers must be given mandatory rest days, defined as 24 consecutive hours without doing domestic work. Hours that are not at the domestic worker’s disposal are also regarded as hours of work. Thus, if we are to take a rights-based approach, the necessity for rigid definitions of a MDW rest day in Singapore is straightforward. Such a universal rights framework is especially important considering the intimate nature of domestic work. The divide between work and leisure is blurred for MDWs as they live in their employer’s homes which doubles up as their workplace, thus underscoring the need for reprieve from one’s home-workplace. Because of this live-in arrangement, there is a much higher propensity for mental, and not just physical exhaustion, amongst this population. The situation also makes it difficult to delineate between what is time on standby for work—which may seem like rest but is actually time at one’s employer’s disposal—and what is actual rest, where MDWs freely do what they want for their physical and mental recuperation. Compliance with international frameworks of domestic workers’ rights can only benefit the well-being of MDWs in Singapore on the whole. 

Unfortunately, Singapore is not a signatory of C189, despite 1 in 5 households employing MDWs. Other migration hotspots in Asia have pledged to follow ILO conventions. One signatory, Hong Kong, which also has a high proportion of domestic workers has clearly defined rest days as 24 consecutive hours. Both countries rely heavily on MDWs. 

But even more critically, the call to safeguard the sanctity of migrant rest days comes not just from international human rights frameworks; our casework experience tells us that the MDWs themselves want longer guaranteed rest days. Many of the complaints we receive from shelter-seekers involve extreme exhaustion from nonstop work as they still do substantial amounts of work, including work done on supposed rest days. Cases where the MDW does work in the morning before and evening after their day off are typically not considered a loss of a rest day as the employer technically allows MDWs roughly eight hours of rest. 

Providing a 24-hour rest day for MDWs also aligns with the labour values of Singapore, already reflected in existing legislation. The Employment Act considers "hours of work" to exclude any time that is not at the employee's disposal—that is, time that is completely the employee’s own. Further, the EA defines a “day” as a period of 24 hours starting at midnight. In other words, there is precedent in our labour law framework to support a 24-hour rest day. However, the Employment Act does not include MDWs under its definition of employees. 

Moving towards a 24-hour rest day for MDWs will entrench the notion that they are employees in their own right, and gives visibility to the value of domestic work and domestic workers, and will ensure adequate rest for this population. Although such a move seems simple, it is an important one towards recognizing the inherent dignity in the labour MDWs provide to the populace. 

Resources:

Cherie Tseng, “Commentary: Is it time for us to explore live-out arrangements for maids?” Channel News Asia, September 19, 2022, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/maid-domestic-work-part-time-salary-leave-mom-employer-2942781 (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/EFMA1990?ProvIds=P1IV-#pr22A-, (Accessed May 8, 2023). 

Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, “Covid-19 And Impact Of Circuit Breaker Measures On Domestic Workers,” May 15, 2020, https://www.home.org.sg/statements/2020/5/15/covid-19-and-impact-of-circuit-breaker-measures-on-domestic-workers (Accessed May 8, 2023).

International Labour Organization, C189 - Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), Clause 10.2.

Kang-chung Ng, “Hong Kong couples who hire domestic helpers are more likely to have a second child, can devote more time to parenting, study finds,” South China Morning Post, November 15, 2021, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3156146/hong-kong-couples-who-hire-domestic-helpers-are-more-likely (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Marcelo Duhalde, “Always on duty: foreign domestic helpers around the world,” South China Morning Post, August 20, 2017, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2106984/always-duty-foreign-domestic-helpers-around-world (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Ministry of Manpower, Rest days and well-being for migrant domestic worker, https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/work-permit-for-foreign-domestic-worker/employers-guide/rest-days-and-well-being (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Ministry of Manpower, Weekly Rest Days for Foreign Domestic Workers, January 2, 2013, https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/announcements/2013/weekly-rest-days-for-fdws (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Ministry of Manpower, New Measures to Strengthen Support For Migrant Domestic Workers, July 22, 2021, https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/2021/0722-better-support-for-mdws (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Ministry of Manpower, Preparing for your Migrant Domestic Worker’s Rest Days: A Guide for Employers, 4, https://www.mom.gov.sg/-/media/mom/documents/publications/guides/migrant-domestic-worker-rest-day-guide.pdf (Accessed May 8, 2023).

Ministry of Manpower, Migrant Domestic Worker rest days: Flexibility, open communication is key, October 26, 2022, https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press-replies/2022/mdw-rest-days (Accessed May 8, 2023).