Is your maid from Philippines or Indonesia? My maid is from Philippines. Her initial 2 year contract is expiring next month and I have already completed the procedures to renew her Malaysian work permit. I have agreed to let her go back for one month. Did you allow your maid to go back for holiday at the end of her initial contract?

I would like to know if I have to do any other procedures before she goes back for a one month break? The Philippines embassy website is not very clear. There is a webpage referring to a POEA employment contract, insurance, notarized affidavit of undertaking, etc. However, it is not clear whether these are needed in my situation. I am concerned that my maid may have trouble clearing immigration in Manila.

No, cannot. After trying to DIY, the embassy official told me flat out that must go through an agent. Your maid will need a permission letter from the embassy and something done in their overseas worker system. The embassy will only accept application through one of the "authorised agents". IMHO, it is likely a little scam that they have going on with the local agents. If you don't do this step, then your maid may have issues when she tries to leave Philippines to return to work in Malaysia.

This is my experience recently.

Malaysia side to get Malaysia work visa can be done without agent. However, the maid still needs to show some approvals from the Philippine side before the maid is allowed to leave their country. Such approvals from Philippine side cannot be obtained directly without going through agent. So if the maid agrees to stay on without home visit, then no problem. Can get Malaysia work visa renewed directly and immigration will not catch her as she will be here with a proper valid visa.