Rest day arrangement for your maid

A rest day provides your Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) or maid with an emotional and mental break from work and helps improve her productivity at work. Rest days also improve your FDW’s well-being, which has a direct impact on the quality of care your FDW can provide to your loved ones. As you consider the needs of your household, do also take into account your FDW’s needs and preferences so that the rest arrangements work well for both you and your family. Your support and understanding will go a long way to help foster a harmonious and productive working relationship between you and your FDW.

According to MOM regulation, it is the employer's responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of their maid. This includes providing rest days, suitable accommodation, necessary medical care, and a safe working environment.

All FDW effective from 1 January 2013 will be entitled to a weekly rest day. To give employers and FDW greater flexibility, employers may compensate their FDW if there is mutual written agreement between both parties for the FDW to work on their rest days. The compensation should be at least one day’s salary or a replacement rest day within the same month.

Additionally, effective from 1 January 2023, all employers must ensure their FDW have at least one rest day each month that cannot be compensated away.

If your MDW agrees to work on the remaining rest days in the month, you must compensate her with one of the following:

• At least 1 day's salary. Note: This is an additional payment and is not counted into the MDW's basic salary.

• A replacement rest day taken within the same month.

https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/work-permit-for-foreign-domestic-worker/employers-guide/rest-days-and-well-being

Your maid is entitled to choose how she spends her rest day – she can either decide to go out or to spend her rest day at home without doing any work. She is, however, not allowed to work for any other employer as moonlighting constitutes an offence of illegal employment in Singapore and can result in a fine or jail time or both.

The rest day can be deferred by up to one calendar month. This means that, should both parties agree to defer the rest day in that month, the FDW should take her rest day by the end of the subsequent month.

We would encourage employers to sign employment contract that makes clear the rest day arrangement that employers and maids have mutually agreed upon in line with MOM regulations. The FDW‘s days off do not necessarily have to fall on Sundays. But MOM recommends that employer should clearly state this and the rest days agreed upon in a written agreement for reference in case any disputes arise at a later point.

Rest time for MDWs on Rest days.

As there are no rules from MOM to define the mandatory rest day for domestic workers as a full 24-hour period of uninterrupted rest.

We also encourage employers and maids to also reach a mutual agreement on the rest day hours, for those who need help in reaching an agreement on the rest day arrangement can call the ministry's MDW helpline.

They can also seek assistance from a neutral third party, such as their employment agencies, or consider utilising the free dispute resolution services offered by the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) and the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (Fast).

Public holiday regulations for FDW’s in Singapore

FDW are not entitled to Public Holidays in Singapore. However, employers can decide if they want to offer public holidays to their helpers following the Employment Act of Singapore.

In this case, the employment contract must clearly mention that your maid is entitled to a cumulative of official public holidays in Singapore. Based on this agreement, if the employer requires the services of the worker on the public holidays with their due consent, they are supposed to pay an extra day’s salary to the worker as compensation or grant a day off within the same month.

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