MOM employer obligations for a live-in domestic worker: your care brief

If your family has no spare room and you hire live-in childcare help, MOM's published conditions reach well past the bedroom. Beyond the expectation of a separate room, MOM states that the accommodation must adequately protect her from sun, rain or strong winds, and that you must minimally provide a mattress, pillow, blanket, bathroom amenities and toiletries. Where a separate room is not possible, you must ensure she has adequate space and privacy. ^[1]

The point was reopened publicly in Annie Tan's CNA commentary of 16 September 2026, on a viral post showing a domestic worker's bed in a four-room BTO home office. What families need is a checklist: which lines are MOM conditions, which are Work Permit mechanics, and which are your own agreement to write down before day one. Note too that MOM's rest-day and employment-rules pages do not set out working-hour limits, night-work conditions, levy amounts or home-leave days. ^[1]

The MOM conditions that go past the bedroom

MOM's accommodation list also covers ventilation: the space must be sufficiently ventilated, and mechanical ventilation such as an electrical fan must be provided if natural ventilation is inadequate. Your helper must not sleep near dangerous equipment or structures, nor in the same room as a male adult or teenager. If you install video recording devices at home, you must tell her about them and where they sit, and must not place them where they would compromise her privacy or modesty, such as where she sleeps, changes clothes or the bathroom. ^[1]

Food is a condition too: you must provide three meals a day and be sensitive to her needs, not forcing her to eat what she is not supposed to or comfortable with, whether for religious reasons or because she is unused to your family's diet. MOM's illustrative day for a female in moderate activity is four slices of bread with spread at breakfast, and rice, three-quarter cup of cooked vegetables, a palm-sized portion of meat and fruit at lunch and dinner. An optional care-brief line: write her dietary and religious requirements in her own words. ^[1]

Rest days, medical costs and the first few weeks

Your MDW is entitled to one rest day per week, and you must mutually agree which day it is. If she works it, you must compensate her with at least one day's salary — but she must still have at least one rest day a month that cannot be compensated away. A rest day can be taken as one full day or two half days, and can be deferred by up to one month; MOM asks you to update her number of rest days in FDW eService after discussing it with her. ^[1]

MOM also makes the employer responsible for her medical needs, including all medical costs such as hospitalisations and six-monthly medical examinations, and medical and personal accident insurance; it asks you to help keep her vaccination status up to date and give her sufficient rest after vaccinations. On arrival, MOM notes a new MDW from a rural area may need help with language, household appliances, high-rise living and childcare practices, and suggests employers orientate and train her, especially early on. ^[1]

The employment layer: where she may work, and what to check

MOM's rules on where she may work are narrow. A helper requires a valid Work Permit, can only work for her employer at the residential address declared to MOM, and can only perform domestic chores. If you want her to care for your child or parent at a relative's house, you must notify MOM first, having obtained her written agreement, and she must not perform the full load of housework in both households; if she stays overnight, her accommodation must meet the requirements, and you remain responsible for her upkeep, including acceptable accommodation, adequate food and medical treatment. ^[2]

MOM's Work Permit conditions also require employers to pay the fixed monthly salary declared to MOM and the cost of upkeep including medical treatment, buy and maintain medical insurance covering in-patient care and surgery and, from 1 April 2022, a Primary Care Plan for out-patient primary care, pay the monthly foreign worker levy, and buy a security bond for each non-Malaysian worker. MOM states employers can check a work pass application's status or a work pass's validity with no log in required, and its FDW eService lists re-printing the helper's six-monthly examination notification letter and checking her 6ME status. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Three arrangements, three different rule sets

None of these MDW conditions attach to a privately engaged local nanny in your own home — there, sleeping space, rest boundaries and documented scope are your family's agreement points, not MOM entitlements. EduNanny, part of the BUTLER Group and the publisher of this guide, states that its private nanny plan can include feeding support, rest routines, nappy changes, everyday hygiene, attentive supervision and age-appropriate play; that baby bathing is not included, so parents handle it or arrange a suitable trained caregiver; and that families share feeding and sleep routines, emergency contacts and handover arrangements before the nanny starts. ^[6]

The ECDA Childminding Pilot is a third, separate setting: EduNanny's FAQ describes it as for Singapore Citizen infants aged 2–18 months not concurrently enrolled in an ECDA-licensed infant care centre, running from 1 December 2024 to 31 December 2027, and points readers to ECDA's official pilot information. Its private nanny care is separate from the subsidised pilot, with its own fees, payment, cancellation and rescheduling terms. The short answer: settle and write down the MOM lines that apply to your arrangement before day one, and take anything case-specific — hours, night-time duties, pay — to MOM itself. ^[6]

Disclosure: EduNanny is a BUTLER business. This article covers an EduNanny or BUTLER service.

Sources

EduNanny Editorial · AI-assisted research and writing, reviewed by our automated editorial team. Sources checked 2026-10-10. Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration.