Singaporean employers now hire private detectives to spy on maids during day-offs

SINGAPORE – More Singaporean employers are now tapping the services of private investigators to trail their maids during off days and monitor their activities, according to The Straits Times report.

Employers have resorted to such steps because of their apparent concern for safety. The demand for hiring private detectives to spy on maids has increased significantly since last year after it became compulsory for employers to give househelps a weekly day off.

One employer, 27-year-old Shova Devi, narrated her experience to The Straits Times regarding an Asian maid whom she got suspicious of after she found out the domestic worker had started chatting with someone late into the night.

“I didn’t know if she had a boyfriend and I was worried for our safety if she brought her boyfriend home,” Devi, an administrative assistant, said.

Devi then decided in February to hire a private eye, James Loh, to investigate the maid’s activities during day-off and found out her employee had a Bangladeshi boyfriend with whom she would meet to ‘eat, shop and check into a budget hotel.’

Knowing the maid in her 20’s was married, and fearing for their safety as well, Devi decided to send her back home.

“I kind of expected her to have a boyfriend, but I was shocked that she checked into a hotel with her boyfriend,” Devi continued. “What would happen if she got pregnant? So I sent her home.”

She had to shell out around US $2,002 (S$2,500) for the 3-day sleuthing work of the private detective, but had no regret believing it was a ‘money well-spent.’

“It’s for our safety as the maid lives with us,” she added.

Devi is just one of the many employers in Singapore who have turned to private detectives to monitor their employee’s activities during day off and holidays, when maids are left to themselves alone in the house, or with an elderly parent.

According to private investigation agencies in Singapore, the demand for this kind of assignments significantly increased since last year and almost doubled on holiday months of June and December.

“It is every employer’s nightmare that some unknown man could intrude into their house. You don’t know what these intruders could do, like turn violent or steal things,” said David Ng, director of DP Quest Investigation Consultancy.

Ng said his clients are worried specifically about their maids bringing their boyfriends at home.

In some assignments, Ng discovered some maids are moonlighting as sex workers during off days. He narrated about an Asian worker who would check into budget hotels with different men on Sunday, about three to four clients a day.

In another case, the domestic worker Ng was hired to keep tabs on her activities, was found to be sneaking her foreigner boyfriend into the house late at night when the family was out on a long vacation in December, and she was only left to care for an old woman with dementia.

Singapore is home to more than 200,000 domestic workers mostly Indonesians, Malaysians, Myanmar, Vietnamese and Filipinos. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is reportedly receiving an average of 200 complaints a month about misbehaving maids. –E.J. CARLEON, http://kickerdaily.com/singaporean-employers-now-hire-private-detectives-to-spy-on-maids-during-day-offs/