By The SUN
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| The dispute over day-off reportedly happened in this building in North Point |
Police were called to a flat on Fort
Street in North Point at about midnight on Saturday after receiving a report
that a foreign domestic helper had attacked her employer with a pair of
scissors.
A police spokeswoman said the two had an argument over the helper’s day-off but did not give any more details.
The helper, who is female and 45 years old, was reportedly holding the scissors at the time and had wounded the male employer on the forehead. Her nationality was not disclosed.
The police had initially classified the case as assault. However, it was subsequently reclassified as dispute after it was found out that the injury to the employer was caused by “pure accident”, said the spokeswoman.
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No one was arrested in the incident.
The case highlighted a common complaint among FDHs about their employers’ refusal to let them go out on their day off, even when the number of Covid-19 infections has begun to ebb.
In one of the latest cases reported to The SUN, Emie, a Filipina domestic worker says she has been told by her employers to stay at home for the past three months because of the surge in coronavirus cases.
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“Bakit ganoon, hindi pa rin ako pinapalabas. Stay at home pa rin daw. Tama po ba yon. Pero sila nalabas sa baba para maglaro kasama ang mga bata. Yung amo kong babae nalabas kapag mag market. Ganoon din ang amo kong lalaki, pumapasok sa trabaho,” Emie says.
(Why are they still not allowing me to go out? They say I should stay at home still. Is that right? However, they go out with their children to play. My female employer also goes out to do the marketing, and my male employer goes to work.
Emie also complains about the little food given her. She says she is often given between three to four slivers of meat mixed in with some vegetables for lunch. For her breakfast and dinner, she is allowed to go out for about two hours each week to buy food using her own money.
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Emie said
she wants to terminate her contract, fearing she might get sick from the lack
of food However she is scared of handing in a month’s notice, saying her
employers might get angry and accuse her of some misdeed.
In 2020 when the third and fourth
waves of the pandemic swept through the city, those who were not allowed to
take their statutory off days rose to 15% of the total number of complaints.
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the number of foreign domestic workers
who complained of not being allowed to take their statutory holidays rose to
45% last year, compared to just 15% in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.
In 2020 when the third and fourth
waves of the pandemic swept through the city, those who were not allowed to
take their statutory off days rose to 15% of the total number of complaints.
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