Red Crowns Senior Living care agency investigated over ‘serious concerns’ about maid employment practices

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is investigating the employment practices of assisted co-living agency Red Crowns Senior Living, amid concerns that its elderly clients may be at risk. 

“MOM has serious concerns about Red Crowns Senior Living’s operating model as it could compromise the interests of its elderly clients and well-being of the migrant domestic workers,” it said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (Jun 13). 

Red Crowns Senior Living provides a variety of services ranging from elder care to private nursing. It also runs assisted living and independent living facilities, renting properties on the open market and subletting them for use as an alternative to nursing homes.

The care agency and its personnel are being investigated for potential offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

Under the law, the employer of a migrant domestic worker is responsible for the migrant domestic worker’s food, safety, medical care, job scope, accommodation and rest arrangements. 

“While Red Crowns Senior Living’s elderly clients were the registered employers of the migrant domestic workers, Red Crowns Senior Living retained control of the migrant domestic workers’ key employment terms and deployment,” said the ministry, noting that this subjected the elderly clients to unnecessary risks.  

Such risks include the elderly clients being held legally responsible should the maids sustain work-related injuries, fail to receive timely salary payments, or not be provided sufficient rest or accommodation. 

MOM said that some of the employers indicated that they were unaware of these liabilities.

The ministry will be directly contacting Red Crowns’ elderly clients and their family members to provide assistance. Clients and their family members who wish to contact MOM may do so via email. 

Red Crowns told CNA that their clients or their family members had given them the authority to choose and hire workers on their behalf. 

“Many of the employers of the caregivers are seniors who may have dementia or may not be able to give instructions to the caregivers,” said Red Crowns’ founder Joshua Goh.

“However, almost always the case, their children are the sponsors for these arrangements, and they are registered as sponsors in the caregiver application in MOM.”

The agency added that it settled on this care model as a last resort to help meet staffing needs.

“For a company to hire the staff directly under the S pass or work permit, it would require a certain number of Singaporean quotas, Singaporean or permanent resident,” Mr Goh said.

“So we find that, for example, at the moment, there are 60 over caregivers among our 33 homes. They are all foreigners, but we don’t have so many Singaporean staff to hire so many of them.” 

Red Crowns previously told CNA that it has a reporting system where caregivers have to update the agency regarding daily meals and activities.

Care coordinators go to different homes to visit clients and ensure their well-being, said care manager Phern Tan in March.