{"id":24306,"date":"2019-03-14T09:09:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T01:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zegal.com\/?p=24306"},"modified":"2023-01-18T13:37:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T05:37:53","slug":"how-to-handle-the-2019-changes-to-the-singapore-labour-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zegal.com\/en-nz\/blog\/post\/how-to-handle-the-2019-changes-to-the-singapore-labour-law\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Handle The 2019 Changes to the Singapore Labour Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

On <\/span>1 April 2019<\/b>, amendments to the current Singapore Employment Act (\u201c<\/span>EA<\/b>\u201d) will come into effect. Until now the EA\u00a0 has only applied to a subset of the workforce and has excluded individuals employed in managerial or executive roles if their salary exceeds SGD $4,500 per month. However, in the future <\/span>all<\/b> employees<\/b> will be subject to the the core provisions of the EA<\/b>. Furthermore, the pool of Part IV Employees benefiting from additional statutory rights will be larger due to the salary threshold increase to SGD $2,600 per month (instead of SGD $2,500).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While managers or executives probably already benefit from equivalent rights today, it is still worth verifying that your business complies with all statutory rights set forth in the EA (e.g. maternity benefit and childcare leave, payment in lieu of notice, etc.) as it is automatically affected by the amendments.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Core Statutory Rights of the Employment Act<\/span><\/h2>\n

The following statutory rights may not be suppressed or diminished through contrary or inconsistent contractual employment terms or employee handbooks\/policies:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Category of Rights<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Minimum Standard\/Right<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Usually dealt with in:<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Annual Leave<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

7-14 paid days, depending on length of service<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Right to encash accrued\u00a0<\/span>unused annual leave on<\/span><\/p>\n

termination (except on the\u00a0<\/span>grounds of misconduct)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Paid Holiday<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

11 paid public holidays <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Statutory right to paid public holidays and be paid for work\u00a0<\/span>done on public holidays<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Sick Leave<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

After an employment of more than 6 months, employees are entitled to:<\/span><\/p>\n

– up to 14 days of paid sick leave (without hospitalisation) or<\/span><\/p>\n

– \u00a0maximum of 60 days if hospitalisation is necessary in each year. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Under the amended EA, employees are entitled to paid sick leave after examination by any medical practitioner (even if such medical practitioner was not appointed by the company). Furthermore, community hospitals can now certify for paid hospitalisation leave.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Maternity and Childcare Leave<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Maternity benefit period of 12 weeks and childcare leave of 2 days per year and a maximum of 14 days per child in total. More extensive periods apply to employees whose child\/children are Singapore citizens (as provided in independent Ordinance).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Salary <\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employers need to pay employees on time. Furthermore, under the amended EA, employers need to provide payslips to all employees.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract (key employment term)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Under amended EA, with employee’s written consent, all kinds of deductions\u00a0<\/span>generally allowed. However, consent can be withdrawn at any time without penalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Overtime<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under amended EA, monthly basic salary used to calculate the hourly rate for overtime work will be SGD$2,600\/month. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Formula for calculating overtime pay under the EA: Hourly rate* x 1.5 x number of hours worked overtime.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment contract and\/or employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Employment Records<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under amended EA, employers will have to provide key employment terms and itemised pay slips in writing to all employees.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employment records<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Following amendments, employers will have the obligation to make and keep employee records for a prescribed retention period.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Payment in Lieu of Notice<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under amended EA, any employee has the right to terminate employment by making a payment of salary in lieu of notice to the employer. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Due Inquiry<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under amended EA, employer is required to conduct \u201cdue inquiry\u201d before taking any disciplinary action, including dismissing an employee on the grounds of misconduct.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Dismissal<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Notice or dismissal during maternity benefit period is prohibited. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

If an employee considers that they have been dismissed without just cause or excuse by their employer, under the amended EA, the employee can complain to the Employment Claims Tribunal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Under the amended EA, constructive dismissal is recognised as a statutory\u00a0<\/span>basis for unfair\/wrongful dismissal claim. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Unfair dismissal could lead\u00a0<\/span>to reinstatement and\/or compensation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Automatic Transfer<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Where the business is sold \/ in restructuring, under amended EA, all employees of the transferor will automatically transfer to the transferee, with recognition of their length of service with the transferor and on the same terms and conditions of employment.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Retrenchment<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under amended EA, an information and consultation process will have to be conducted with respect to the affected employees (and if applicable, any trade union recognised by the transferor) as soon as is reasonable before the transfer. Furthermore, Commissioner of Labour needs to be informed about the intended retrenchment measures.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Employment Tribunal<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Under the amended EA, in addition to salary-related claims, dismissal claims will be heard at the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management\/Employment Claims Tribunal. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Employee handbooks\/policies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* There are other statutory rights in the Employment Act and this article does not attempt to provide an exhaustive summary of all such rights and introduced changes.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

In the case that contractual terms and employee handbooks\/policies are in line with the statutory rights, no specific action is required.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case that the employment agreement and\/or the employee handbooks\/policies do not contain specific provisions related to the statutory rights as set out in the EA, statutory rights will automatically apply. As long as statutory rights are respected in practice, no specific further action is required.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the event that the contractual terms and\/or the employee handbooks\/policies are inconsistent with statutory rights, the latter will prevail. As inconsistent terms are illegal, contractual terms and\/or employee handbooks\/policies should be amended to be in line with statutory rights (e.g. through a supplement to the employment agreement to be signed off by the employee). Serious consequences under the EA exist in case of failure to provide statutory rights to Part IV Employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please see also following compliant documents available on our platform:<\/span><\/p>\n