Can't Maids take Leave?

A storm is raging over the government's plan to give the nation’s 370,000 foreign maids one day off every week.

Employers and business groups are unhappy with this plan and they have their reasons for feeling so.

Some fear these helpers will run away or catch diseases. Suhakam, the National Human Rights Commission said while it generally supported the move,it is still concerned about the decision.

“Maids would get naughty and there would be adverse outcomes,” one of the commissioners, Khoo Kay Kim, told Utusan Malaysia. He suggested that employers take their maids to designated places during their day off so that they could be monitored.

Accountant Audrey Tan, who employs two Indonesian maids, said: “They might run away with boyfriends, contract sexual diseases or get pregnant".

“I am responsible for their welfare and if this happens I have to fork out my own money for their treatment,” she said.

The changes to labour laws to allow this weekly leave for maids will be implemented by the end of the year. Employers who failed to follow the rules could be fined up to RM10,000.

“The changes are for humanitarian reasons, to prevent domestic abuse and are in keeping with international standards,” the Human Resources Minister told Parliament. He said the government was "serious about the changes and will be explaining the rationale to maid agencies and employers.”

Labour experts say the changes are an attempt to change Malaysia’s image as an exploiter of migrant workers. In the most recent case of abuse, police yesterday charged Hau Yuan Tyng, 42, with causing injury to her Indonesian maid, Siti Hajar Sadli, using hot water, a hammer and scissors.

Siti, bleeding from her injuries, fled Hau’s upscale flat on June 6, and took a taxi to the Indonesian embassy. The case has been widely reported in Indonesia, sparking outrage.

This week, the United States put Malaysia on a people-trafficking blacklist of 17 countries — with its treatment of foreign maids listed among the reasons.

Employers groups say a day off for maids is not practical because domestic work takes place seven days a week.

“Offices and factories can be shut down for a day off but we can’t do that in a home,” said Norizan Sharif, president of the Macom community group. “A home is formal place and maids work or rest in an informal environment. If they take leave, the home comes to a standstill.”

A spokesman for Papa, an association of maid recruitment agencies, said they feared many helpers would run away on their day off.

“This is already a big problem and inevitably would get worse if maids get a day off to be free and unsupervised,” she added. “They will run off with their boyfriends, leaving their employer in desperate need of a new maid. The cost will jump as every few months a replacement maid is needed.”

However, not all employers are opposed to the idea, as many have already been giving their maids Sundays off without any untoward problems, whatsoever.

“I have no problems with my maid on her day off,” said opposition lawmaker A. Sivanesan. “I can’t understand why there is a hue and cry.”

Sivanesan must be one lucky chap to be blessed with good maids thus far! Hope he continues to have good maids ever after..............