Many Singaporeans employers were using the justice system as a tool to control domestic workers, according to a report published in Al Jazeera. Eighty per cent of bosses filed police complaints against their maids.

The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) stated that employers hold “unprecedented” power over domestic workers, who were facing disadvantages in the criminal justice system due to their precarious status as work permit holders.

Domestic workers who were facing charges of crime were not allowed to continue to work. They could be barred from future employment in Singapore after receiving a warning from the police despite never being convicted of an offence.

“Importantly, the findings demonstrate how the police and the criminal justice system are used as a threat, and punitive – and often retaliatory – tool against migrant domestic workers,” Home said in the report.

The report released last week is based on 100 cases involving migrant domestic workers accused of crime between 2019 and 2020.

HOME’s report was compiled in response to the case of Parti Liyani who was accused of stealing 30,000 Singaporean dollars ($22,103) worth of items from ex-Changi Airport Group chairman Liew Mun Leong and his family.

The high court overturned the decision against Parti in September 2020, who was convicted in 2019, in April, Liew’s son Karl was sentenced to two weeks in prison for lying during the domestic workers’ trial.

HOME’s report stated that the most common allegations against the domestic workers featured in the report were theft, most cases which were “petty in nature”.

In one case the employer reported to the police for allegedly stealing 10 Singaporean dollars.

“Accusations of theft can be made very easily, require little to no proof and do not negatively impact employers (regardless of the outcome), while having disproportionate and potentially disastrous outcomes for migrant domestic workers,” the report said.

Physical abuse was the most common claim, accounting for 13 per cent of the cases involving migrant domestic workers.

According to the report, only 18 per cent of reports led to criminal charges. Thirty-six resulted in no further action and 43 per cent to a “stern warning”, which authorities can sue at their discretion instead of prosecution.

Although domestic workers can suffer consequences after the complaints, which not resulted in a criminal conviction.

HOME reported that helpers also face “revenge accusations” after they leave their place of employment.