Weekend Assignment Term 3 Week 1

Veteran labour leader Halimah Yacob recently called for the legislation of weekly days off for maids working in Singapore. This has sparked off an intense debate amongst Singaporeans. In your opinion, should the giving of weekly days off be legislated in Singapore?

Nowadays, we can see many cases of maids getting too stressed up or homesick and doing many unbelievable things in the newspaper. Some of them might be able to take the stress that their employers give them, but other weak-willed ones might not. Also, they might also get homesick and become distraught. One can never have any idea what a extremely stressed up person could do. I feel that maids should be given weekly days off.

Not long ago, there was a newspaper article about this maid, who mixed detergent in her employer's two and a half month old twin babies' milk powder. When the employer came home and wanted to make milk for her twins, she noticed a some blue particles in the powder and also a fragrance coming from the milk powder. She was sued by her employer. The reason for this incident was because the maid was very angry and stressed that her employer scolded her constantly for her poor work performance. From this incident, we can see that maids are capable of anything, especially when under tremendous stress and pressure.

I feel that maids should be given weekly days off as this will enable them to lose stress and enjoy themselves. If you coop them in the house everyday, they might feel scared and insecure. They might also get stressed up and in the process, doing something wrong. By allowing them to go out and relieving their stress, this will also strengthen the bond between employer and employee.

However, I feel that a curfew at night should be given to the maid, to prevent her from staying out too late.This is because if you give your maids too much freedom, they might end up neglecting their work, and instead stay out to late at night to party and have fun. They will always go out until very late into the night and return in the wee hours of the morning, surely they will feel tired and will go to bed and sleep until very late the next day. Also, those maids who drink might get drunk and have trouble finding her way back to her employer's home. This will cause complications to both the employer and the employee. Even if they manage to get back, they might get a hangover and cause more troubles for her employer.

In conclusion, I feel that the giving of weekly days off in Singapore should be legislated. However, employers should take the responsibility to set a curfew and not let them party all the way into the wee hours of morning. This way, it will both help them relieve stress and at the same time not neglect their work.