- Maid falls from flat, fractures spine trying toescape
- She needs surgery and 3 weeks in hospital
- Agency says employer should bear medical costs
The Electric New Paper, May 12, 2008
HER new maid was under her hire for less than 24 hours before she was gone from thehome.
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The employer thought she went missing and made a police report.
Then came the news from the maid agency: The Indonesian maid was 'missing' because she was in hospital with a fractured spine - after jumping out of the window of the employer's second-storey flat in a bid to escape.
Now, Madam Juliana faces a $17,000 bill for the maid's surgery and three-week hospital stay.
The insurance covers up to $5,000, so she still has to cough up $12,000.
She claimed that the maid, MsMartinah, 23, later told her that she had run away because she did not want to work for her, but was forced to by the maid agency.
So Madam Juliana felt Nur Employment Agency should be at least partly responsible for the medical bill.
She has approached both the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) and the Association of Employment Agencies (Singapore) (AEAS) for help.
She said: 'It's so unfair. She was with me for less than 24 hours and now, I'm liable for the bills.
'If she was with us for a long time, it's okay, but she hadn't even done any work.
'Why did the agent push her to work for me when they knew she didn't want to, which resulted in this?'
But the agency's manager disputed Madam Juliana's claims.
He said they had not forced MsMartinah to work for her, and the employer should be responsible for the hospital bills.
However, he said the agency will pay for the maid's repatriation.
Madam Juliana, a sales manager who did not want to use her full name, said she and her husband had hired Ms Martinah last month to look after their three children, aged 8, 5 and 2.
They picked her because she looked strong and had experience looking after children.
But during the initial interview, she said the maid told her she wanted to think about it first.
The next day, the agency called to say the maid could work for her.
She picked up Ms Martinah from the agency on 18 Apr, around 6.30pm.
'She looked upset. I asked her what's wrong, and she said she was tired.'
That night after dinner, she and her husband told Ms Martinah about her duties.
The next day, the family left their five-room Bedok flat at 2.30pm to go to her mother-in-law's house, after leaving instructions on household chores.
NO ANSWER
At 4.20pm, Madam Juliana called the home to check on the maid and to tell her where the house keys were kept, but no one answered.
The family returned home at 8.10pm to find the unit in darkness, and the maid missing.
They found a handwritten note from Ms Martinah on her bed, which started with: '1,000 sorries for leaving...'
The maid wrote that the work was not suitable for her, and she was going back to find the agent.
The couple called the agency repeatedly without success, so they filed a missing person's report with the police that night.
They did so that night.
The next morning, Madam Juliana found a second handwritten note from Ms Martinah tucked in a window.
On 21 Apr, the agency called her to say the maid was in hospital and needed major surgery.
The medical report stated that she had tried to jump from the flat and was found lying on the ground by a passer-by.
Police investigations are ongoing.
When The New Paper on Sunday spoke to Ms Martinah at the hospital through an interpreter, she said she had tried to escape because the work was 'not suitable'.
She said that a worker at the agency had scolded her repeatedly and told her she had to work.
She added that Madam Juliana's family had not ill-treated her.
As to why she didn't talk to her employer or call the agent, she said: 'Iwas just scared, I wanted to escape.'
Ms Martinah said she wanted to go home to Indonesia once she's discharged from hospital. She then started sobbing uncontrollably.
A man then arrived to discharge MsMartinah. Identifying himself as a manager at Nur Employment Agency, but declining to be named, he said that under the maid's work permit conditions, the employer is responsible for all medical bills.
But he said the agency would pay for Ms Martinah's repatriation and house her until then.
He denied shouting at the maid and said the maid had not been forced to work for Madam Juliana.
He claimed the maid told him that she tried to escape because she had been locked inside.
Both Case and AEAS confirmed Madam Juliana had gone to them for help.
Nur Employment is accredited withAEAS, but is not a CaseTrust- accredited agency.
Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said that based on the information given to them, the employer would be liable for the maid's welfare.
He said: 'In this case, the maid was in the home of the employer at the time of the injury, though for a very short time. Therefore, the employer has to pay for the medical expenses.'
He said Madam Juliana's complaint was one of two lodged against Nur Employment this year. Last year, there was one complaint against the agency.
THIRD MAID
Madam Juliana said Ms Martinah was their third maid within a year from Nur Employment Agency.
She said they sent the first maid bacl after eight months, claiming she had ill-treated their youngest son. The second was sent back after the Ministry of Manpower found she had previously worked in Singapore under a different identity.
This is the third reported dispute in three months between employers and agencies over maids' medical bills.
Last month, a family was reportedly slapped with a $70,000 bill after their Indonesian maid, 29, fell six storeys from the agent's flat and was hospitalised for 45 days.
The agency argued that even though the family had sent the maid back, her work permit had not been cancelled yet, so the employer had to be responsible for the bill.
In March, another family disputed their Filipino maid's $1,000 Institute of Mental Health bill as they subsequently discovered she had previously been warded in a mental hospital in her home country. The agency claimed it knew nothing about this.
Maid befriends hammer attack victim
MS Martinah was not the only maid recovering from horrific injuries at Changi General Hospital.
Ms Susanti, who was hit repeatedly with a hammer by her employer's estranged husband in the Eunos flat tragedy that made the news recently, was also in the same ward.
Ms Susanti was in Bed 8 at Ward 46, while Ms Martinah was in Bed 30.
They even became friends.
When The New Paper on Sunday visited Ms Susanti at the hospital on 6 May, Ms Martinah dropped by to talk to her.
Ms Susanti said it was MsMartinah who first approached her.
When we interviewed MsMartinah again a few days later, she recognised this reporter and asked about Ms Susanti, who was already discharged by then.
Ms Susanti is staying at the Indonesian embassy while waiting for police investigations to be completed.
Ms Martinah's agent is housing her at a worker's hostel until she is repatriated this week.
