The specific official answer, not a general assumption
This is a common point of confusion, and the standard employer guide hosted by JTKSM addresses it as its own dedicated FAQ item rather than leaving it implied: “Can I keep my foreign domestic helper’s documentation and passport for safe keeping?” The answer given is unambiguous — “The answer to this question is a firm ‘NO’. Your foreign domestic helper’s passport is meant to be in his/her possession at all times.” The guide grounds this in the Passports Act 1966, stating it stipulates that a passport is an official document belonging to the source country which must be in the possession of the passport holder.
The standard employment contract carries the same rule as a written term, not just guidance: she is to carry her passport at all times, and the employer shall not keep the passport or personal documents of the domestic worker in custody except for a specific, named list of purposes.
The one exception, and what it doesn’t cover
The contract names exactly four purposes for which she submits her passport to the employer temporarily: medical screenings, applying for the PL(KS)/VP(TE), applying for the Foreign Workers Identity Card (I-Kad), and renewing the PL(KS)/VP(TE). Outside those four, holding onto it isn’t part of the standard framework — and even within them, the contract states the passport shall be returned to her upon completion of these purposes, not held indefinitely afterward.
Who bears the cost if something goes wrong depends on whose custody it was in at the time: if her passport is lost or damaged while she carries it herself, she bears the related expenses; if it’s lost or damaged while it was in the employer’s custody for one of the four named purposes, the employer bears them instead. The actual process for reporting a lost passport — where to go, what to bring, and what it costs — is a separate matter covered in its own dedicated guide.