Employment Law in Singapore Summary PDF

Here is the converted markdown format of your document: # Learning Activity **Learning Objectives:** 1. Explain the difference between Employment for contract and Employment of service. 2. List the Key Employment Terms (KETs) 3. Explain the employment terms and standards stipulated under the Em...

Here is the converted markdown format of your document: # Learning Activity **Learning Objectives:** 1. Explain the difference between Employment for contract and Employment of service. 2. List the Key Employment Terms (KETs) 3. Explain the employment terms and standards stipulated under the Employment Act * 40 mins * You will be assigned to a group. * Your group is required to discuss the given questions for 25 mins. * Your group will assign a spokesperson to present the answers to the class in not more than 3 mins **Scenario 1:** Mohan is a salesman with a major Department store. His rest days are on Fridays. His boss requested him to work on Good Friday, anticipating that there will be more shoppers as it is a Public holiday. Q: What is Mohan entitled to for working a full day on a Rest Day? Q: What would be his entitlement if his rest day was on Tuesdays? **Scenario 2:** Betty is a Singaporean Citizen and has been working as an Admin Executive for 2 months when she realized that she was 3 months pregnant with her 3rd child. She is married to a Singaporean. Q: How many weeks of maternity leave would she be entitled to for her 3rd child? Q: How many weeks of maternity leave would she be entitled to for her 3rd child, if she was married to a Malaysian and that she delivers the baby in Johor? ## Reflection Activity Q: Why did the bus drivers from SMRT strike? Could the incident have been avoided? Q: What are the channels where the bus drivers can lodge complaints? **Case Study:** On 26 November 2012, 171 bus drivers from public-transport service provider SMRT Corporation Limited (SMRT) refused to go to work, and 88 were absent from work the next day. It was the first strike in Singapore since the Hydril strike in 1986. The protestors, who were all Chinese nationals, were aggrieved at the disparity between their wages and those of their Malaysian counterparts. They were also disgruntled at the poor living conditions and how their complaints had been ignored. The two-day strike was deemed illegal under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, as the workers had disrupted an essential service without the requisite two weeks' notice. There were delays in some 10 percent of SMRT's bus services on the first day of the strike, and five percent on the following day. **Background** Prior to the 1990s, bus drivers in Singapore mainly comprised Singaporeans and permanent residents. Bus operators began employing Malaysians during the 1990s as more Singaporeans attained higher education levels and thus moved towards white-collar jobs. To meet rising passenger numbers and higher service standards, the operators started recruiting from China in 2008 when demand for bus drivers could no longer be fully met by Singaporeans and Malaysians. *** ## Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) | Claims that can be filed at ECT | Statutory salary-related claims from all employees covered under the EA, RRA and CDCA Contractual salary-related claims by all employees, except domestic workers, public servants and seafarers Wrongful dismissal claims from all employees covered by the EA and CDCA Claims for salary in lieu of notice for all Employers | | :----------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Maximum claim amount | $20,000 or $30,000 for those who go through Tripartite Mediation Framework or mediation assisted by unions recognised under the Industrial Relations Act Note: A claimant whose claim exceeds $20,000 or $30,000 must abandon the excess amount to enable their case to be heard by the ECT | | When to file your claim | For statutory and contractual salary-related claims: Within 1 year after the dispute arose If the employment relationship has ended, the claim must be filled within 6 months after the last day of employment | | | For wrongful dismissal claims: For pregnant employees: If you feel that you've been wrongfully dismissed without being paid your maternity benefits, you must file your claim within 2 months from the date of your confinement. For other types of wrongful dismissal claims: Within 1 month from your last day of work | ## Channels through which Employees can lodge claims * Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) and * Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) Set up to provide employees and employers with an accessible and expeditious avenue to resolve employment disputes, when they arise. ## Tripartite Mediation Framework The Tripartite Mediation Framework (TMF), under the Industrial Relations Act, allows more employees to benefit from tripartite mediation as an option to resolve employment disputes. From 1 April 2019, employees will also be able to tap on the TMF to resolve wrongful dismissal disputes. | Eligibility | Coverage of Issues | | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | All managers & executives who are union members in non-unionised companies. Rank-and-file union members in non-unionised companies. | • Employment statutory benefits, e.g. salary arrears, overtime pay, public holiday and rest day pay, maternity and other leave Re-employment issues Breach of individual employment contracts Payment of retrenchment benefits Wrongful dismissal issues | *** ## Transfer of Employment ### Employer's obligations * Notify the affected Employees or their union of the impending transfer within a reasonable time * Inform affected Employees about the terms of transfer, so that they or their union can hold consultations with the company * Ensure that there is no break in employment during the transfer * Ensure terms of employment are not less favourable after the transfer ### New Employer's obligations * Inform the previous Employer of matters that will affect Employees, so they can inform Employees within a reasonable period * Take over the previous Employer's rights, powers, duties and liabilities which are part of any contract or agreement with the Employees' union before the transfer * Keep unchanged any terms or conditions of employment for the transferred Employees, unless the transferred Employees agree to a change ### Transfer * An Employer can transfer an Employee's employment to another company because of restructuring. The new Employer will take over the Employee's contract of service on the existing terms. * The Employer has the right to transfer the Employee to another Employer if the organisation is being restructured. A restructuring can involve a merger, take-over, sale of parts of the company or setting up a subsidiary company. * The Employee may be transferred to a related company such as a subsidiary, or to a totally unrelated company. * The Employee's terms or conditions of employment will remain the same, unless the Employee agrees to change them. ### Employee's rights during a transfer * Be notified of the transfer and of matters relating to the transfer * Be given the opportunity to consult the Employer * Preserve the original terms and conditions of employment under the new Employer ### Disputes during a transfer * If a disputes happens, the Employee and Employer should negotiate the terms of the transfer. * If the Employee cannot agree to new terms, both parties have the right to terminate employment with notice. * Either party can also refer disagreements to the Commissioner for Labour, who is empowered to: * Delay or prohibit the transfer of the Employee concerned * Order the transfer of the Employee and set terms that are considered just *** ## Can Employer reject a resignation? An Employer cannot reject an Employee's resignation. The Employee has the right to resign at any time, by serving the required notice or by compensating the Employer with salary in lieu. ## Termination due to employee misconduct The Employer may dismiss an employee without notice if the employee is found guilty of misconduct. However, the Employer must conduct an inquiry before taking any disciplinary action. #### What is misconduct? * Misconduct is the failure to fulfil the conditions of employment in the contract of service. * E.g. theft, dishonesty, disorderly or immoral conduct at work and insubordination. * If an Employee has committed an act of misconduct, the Employer should conduct an inquiry before deciding whether to dismiss an Employee or to take other forms of disciplinary action. ## Compensation from employees for ending a contract The Employee's contract may require the employee to pay a monetary compensation (in addition to notice pay) for terminating the contract before a specified period. Such terms are not covered by the Employment Act and are based on the contract of service. Any disputes have to be settled by the civil court. ## Appeal against wrongful dismissal If an Employee feels that his/her dismissal is unfair, he/she may lodge a claim with TADM for mediation. #### What is a dismissal? Dismissal means that the Employer has terminated the contract of service. It may be with or without notice and on grounds of misconduct or not. #### When to appeal The claim must be received within one month from the last day of employment. If the claims cannot be resolved through mediation, they will be referred to the Employment Claims Tribunals. *** ## Termination without notice If the Employee resigns without giving notice, the Employee needs to pay salary in lieu of notice. * Termination without notice can happen in situations such as breaking the terms of the contract, failure to pay salary and absence without cause. * Either the Employee or Employer may terminate a contract without waiting for the notice period to end. * The Employee can do so by paying the other party salary in lieu of notice ("notice pay"). This is money equivalent to the salary that the Employee would have earned during the required notice period. **Example:** Ali worked a 5 ½-day week from Monday to Saturday. Saturday was a 4-hour work day. Ali's monthly basic rate of pay was $700 and his monthly gross rate of pay was $800. Ali's employment was terminated by his employer without notice (by contract, he should be given one week's notice). The amount of salary payable to Ali in lieu of termination notice should be calculated as follows: Salary in lieu of termination of notice: $\frac {12 * $800 (monthly gross rate of pay) * 5.5}{52 * 5.5} = $184.62$ ## When an Employee can terminate without notice * Either the Employee or Employer may terminate the employment without notice when terms of employment have been breached. * The party that breached the terms of employment will be liable to pay salary in lieu of notice. #### What is considered a breach? * An Employee can leave without notice if the Employer fails to pay the salary within 7 days of it being due. * However, the Employee should check with the Employer why payment hasn't been made before deciding whether to leave. * An Employee is considered to have breached the contract and the Employer can terminate employment without notice if: * The Employee is absent from work continuously for more than 2 working days, without approval and a good excuse * The Employee is absent from work continuously for more than 2 working days without informing and attempting to inform the Employer of the reason ## Changes to terms and conditions of work The Employer cannot change the terms and conditions of employment without the Employee's consent. If the Employee does not agree to the changes, he/she should negotiate with the Employer for an agreement acceptable to both. If there is no agreement, either party may choose to end the contract by serving the notice period. *** ## Termination of Contract #### What to do during termination? * The Employee must give the Employer **notice** in writing, according to the terms of the Employee's contract. The Employee can also apply to use the annual leave to offset the notice period. * If the Employee decides to terminate **without notice**, the Employee will have to pay salary in lieu of notice. * If the Employee is suspected to have committed **an act of misconduct**, the Employer must conduct an inquiry before deciding to dismiss the Employee (or take other forms of disciplinary action). ## Termination with notice * If the Employee's contract specifies a notice period, the Employee must either serve the notice when the Employee resigns, or pay salary in lieu. Notice can be waived by mutual consent between the Employee and Employer. * If the Employee wants to terminate the employment contract, the Employee must give notice to the other party in writing in the form of a letter of termination or resignation. * The notice period is the same for the Employer and Employee. It should be according to the written contract, or verbal agreement, if there is no written contract. **If the Employee and Employer did not previously agree on a notice period, the following applies:** | Length of service | Notice period | | :----------------------------- | :------------ | | Less than 26 weeks | 1 day | | 26 weeks to less than 2 years | 1 week | | 2 years to less than 5 years | 2 weeks | | 5 years and above | 4 weeks | Note: The notice period includes the day on which the notice is given. *** ## Re-employment Effective 1 July 2022, employers are required to offer re-employment to eligible employees from the retirement age of 63 to the re-employment age of 68 to continue employment in the organisation. The new retirement and re-employment ages apply as follows: | Age | Retirement Age | Re-employment Age | | :------------------------------------------------------- | :------------- | :---------------- | | Born before 1 July 1955 (\>67 years old on 1 July 2022) | 62 | 67 | | Born between 1 July 1955 and 30 June 1960 (between 62-67 years old on 1 July 2022) | 62 | 68 | | Born after 1 July 1960 (\<62 years old on 1 July 2022) | 63 | 68 | ## Re-employment If an Employee is eligible for re-employment but the Employer is unable to offer a position, then the Employer must: Transfer the re-employment obligation to another Employer, with the Employee's agreement, or Offer the Employee a one-off Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) #### Employment Assistance Payment (EAP): If the Employer has considered all available re-employment options within the organisation and is still unable to identify a suitable job for the Employee, the company may offer the Employee an EAP. Offered only after a thorough review, as a last resortMeant to help the Employee tide over a period of time while the Employee seeks alternative employment A one-off payment equivalent to 3.5 months salary, subject to a minimum of $6,250 and maximum of $14,750. Note: For employees who have been re-employed for at least 30 months since age 63, a lower EAP amount of 2 months of salary could be considered, subject to a minimum of $4,000 and maximum of $8,500. In addition to the EAP, employers are encouraged to provide outplacement assistance, to help employees find alternative employment. ### Who is eligible? * A Singapore citizen or Singapore permanent resident * Has served his/her current Employer for at least 3 years before turning 63 for employees hired at age 55 and above * Has satisfactory work performance, as assessed by his/her Employer * Is medically fit to continue working ### Re-employment by a different employer If the Employer is unable to re-employ the Employee, the Employer can transfer re-employment obligations to another Employer instead of paying an Employment Assistance Payment. #### There will be safeguards for the Employee: * The Employee must be willing to accept re-employment with the other Employer. Otherwise, the employee will be entitled to an Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) from your present employer * The other Employer must be willing to take on the existing re-employment obligations, including: * Being required to offer re-employment, up to age 68 * Offering Employment Assistance Payment should the Employer subsequently be unable to offer re-employment, up to age 68 For more information on the Tripartite Guidelines on Ra visit: https://www.tafep.sg/re-employment *** ## Retrenchment Employers who are retrenching Employees must give notice and offer retrenchment benefits to eligible Employees. Mandatory Retrenchment Notifications Employers must notify MOM of retrenchments within 5 working days after they notify the affected Employees. ### Who is eligible? * Employees who have served the company for at least 2 years are eligible for retrenchment benefits. * Those with less than 2 years' service could be granted an ex-gratia payment out of goodwill. ### Amount of compensation * The amount of compensation depends on the contract of service or what is agreed collectively. If there is no contract or agreement, it must be negotiated between the Employee and Employer. * If the retrenchment comes shortly after a salary cut, the salary before the cut should be used to determine the amount of compensation. * Both Employee and Employer don't have to pay CPF contributions for retrenchment benefits. ### Alternatives to Retrenchment | Redeployment | Temporary Layoffs | | :----------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Employers can redeploy or rotate employees within the company when the job scope is expanded or restructured. Employees who are redeployed should also be provided with the relevant training. • | | | Employers can ask employees to stop coming to work for a short period However, they still have obligations toward their employees: • Must pay at least half of their gross salary during the days that they are temporarily laid off. | | | If they take annual leave on their laid off days, then the employer must pay them half-day pay for each day of annual leave taken. In such an arrangement: Employees will get a full day's pay (half-day laid off pay + half-day annual leave pay). | | | Employees should not be asked to take more than 50% of their earned annual leave. | *** ### Adoption Leave Employee can start the adoption leave from his/her formal intent to adopt The Employee must consume the adoption leave before the child's 1st birthday ### Entitlement If the Employee's formal intent to adopt is on or after 1 July 2017, the Employee is entitled to 12 weeks of adoption leave for mothers, capped at $10,000 per every 4-week leave taken, including CPF The Employer will pay the Employee's usual monthly salary during the leave period. They can then claim reimbursement from the Government accordingly: | Births | Paid by employer | Reimbursed by government | | :--------------------------------------------------- | :--------------- | :----------------------- | | First and second | First 4 weeks | Last 8 weeks | | Third and subsequent | | All 12 weeks | | Reimbursement capped at $20000 and $30000 resp. Incl CPF | | | ### Adoption Leave can take leave as follows | Arrangement | 12 weeks | | ------- | ------- | |Default, without any mutual agreement| Taken as a continuous stretch, from the date of formal intent adopt| | Flexibly. by mutual agreement | The first 8 weeks must be taken in one continuous stretchstarting any time between the date of formal intent to adopt andthe date when the Adoption Order is granted ,including both dates, <ul> The last 4 weeks can be taken flexibly in days before the child's birthday </ul>| | Calculating working days | 4 weeks x number of working days in the week. Capped at 6 working days per week | ### Leave for part time employees. Employee also entitled to annual leave,sick leave,hospitalization,Parent also enetiled to maternity leave,paterrniy leave ,child care leave, For information visit this website: https://www.mom.gov.sg/Part_time employee *** ### Employee Child Care Leave Employees are entitled to 6 days per year of Government Paid child care as the child must be a Singapore citizen, the child must be under 7 and the employee must be self employed or working for at least 3 years. For employee's youngest child between 7 and 12 could be eligible for 2 days of extended childcare ### Child Care leave Employed and spouse each get 6 day per year of child care leave until the year the child turn 7 Child care is capped at 42 and they must have 2 youngest children Entitlement Ave.no.hours employee week/ Ave.no.hours ft employee a day X working days ### Adoption leave, Eligible adaptive mothers must served for more than 3 year to care for for inftants under 12 weaks Each parent is entitled to 6 days of paid infants ,From Jan 1 2024, Unpaid care leave will increase by additional 6 days *** ### PATERNITY LEAVE Fathers entitled to PAID Paternity leave funded by GOVT. ### ELIGIBILITY. working father Child a Singapore Citizen Been lawfully married with the child at birth. Employee MUST of served at least 3 months being employeed. Self ELPLOYED Has been working with you for 3 months Adoptive Father ## ENTITLEMENT 2 weeks of GPPL double fromJan 1 2024 Arragemnt 2 weeks of gpml splilt or combination, can be taken birth **Shared Parent leave CAN Apply to share 4 weeks Wife 16. Working fathers can currently apply to share up to 4 weeks of wife's 16 weeks of Government-Paid Maternity Leave, subject to wife's agreement. ****ENTITLEMENT Up to 4 weeks of parental leave capped at $2500 Default *** ## Matenity Leave *Employee obligations cannot offset and benefits will cease Must worked for employer. For protection must been certificate by practitioner . ## Is an unmarried female entiled to maternity benefits If qualified then it is not affected marriage status A female entiled if she miscarries If she satisfies sick leaf Can woman ben Employed at night ,She gives consent *** ## Sick leave ,Employment acts entitles to sick leave. Eligiblity Medical must 2 weeks of absents ### Entitelment employee is entiled to for days ,the act will be 14 days ,60 days as If employee is working for six month is pronated. ## Maternity Leave 16 or 12 weeks, Goverment paid Child must have is Singapore Employeed must month serve. Employers may the employee monthly.