Foreign domestic workers who want alternate option to receive their wages in addition to cash, now can get their salaries via electronic payments. There are three centres run by the Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) that can be used to access their e-payment. This initiative is an extension of three-month trial of the same programme that was held between May and July earlier this year.

Workers who are keen in using e-payment can approach the CDE to set up a special POSB account called as the POSB Payroll Account (FDW). To open up such account, it does not require an initial deposit or call for maintaining a monthly minimum amount in their accounts, Straits Times reports.

Speaking at an event to celebrate International Migrants Day on Sunday (Dec 17), CDE chairman Yeo Guat Kwang said that e-payments will be helpful in reducing the cases of salary disputes between foreign domestic workers and their employers. In such issues, there is often a dispute over the records of how much the maids have received, or whether their employer has paid them.

See: India, China, and Vietnam to Lead Salary Increases in Asia Pacific in 2018: Survey

By taking advantage of electronic modes of payment, such cases can be avoided, as there will be proper record about payment history in the accounts. Regarding to this matter, Mr Yeo noted that a provision under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act allows migrant workers to request that their employers pay their salaries through electronic means.

With about 240,000 foreign domestic workers employed in Singapore, it comes as no surprise that CDE report released in January recorded salary disputes as one of the top three issues commonly raised by foreign domestic workers. The other two issues included being requests for transfer of employer as well as cases of physical abuse.

One good testimony comes from Filipina Lalaine Ortigas, a foreign domestic worker whose employers have been paying her wage via electronic payment since 2013. She said that she no longer encounters late payments.

“With e-banking, you don’t have to worry about when your salary comes in,” said the 32-year-old maid.

Read also: Malaysian Employers Must Allow Female Workers to Take 90 Days Maternity Leave