SINGAPORE – As the pandemic-stricken economy started healing, more unpaid wages were fully reclaimed from employers and fewer workers lodged complaints for wrongful dismissals.
Overall, workers took fewer disputes with their employers to the authorities last year, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in the release of the 2021 Employment Standards Report on Monday (July 18).
Workers clawed back $8.6 million in salary claims, down from $15 million the year before. Such claims formed the bulk of total complaints at 82 per cent.
Fewer wage claims arose with the recovery in the accommodation, food services, wholesale and retail trade sectors, said MOM.
Singapore’s foreign workers also made much fewer claims, it added.
In total, 5,882 claims and appeals were made. Local workers filed 64 per cent of them, with the remainder from foreigners.
The tally translates to 1.73 claims per every 1,000 employees – excluding foreign maids – lodged last year, compared with 2.59 in 2020.
The ministry said its early interventions over the last two years have worked.
It had encouraged employers to declare upfront when they could not pay wages so they could tap aid, and workers could alert the ministry of salary arrears early via an app.
That helped ensure salaries were paid to some 24,000 foreign workers last year without the need for them to make formal claims, it added.
At the same time, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) resolved about 84 per cent of salary claims, and referred the remaining to the Employment Claims Tribunals for adjudication.
The TADM was set up by the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation to mediate and advise workers and employers on employment disputes.
2021 was the “best performing year” since TADM’s set-up in 2017, said its general manager Kandhavel Periyasamy.
He said the body did well in terms of the number of disputes it mediated to resolution, the speed of resolution, and the percentage of workers who sought its help and recovered their wages in full.
The number of claims rectified in two months rose drastically from 76 per cent in 2020 to 92 per cent last year, due to the drop in claims filed.
More unpaid wages were fully reclaimed from employers, from 92 per cent in 2020 to 95 per cent.
There were also fewer claims for wrongful dismissals – at 0.27 claim for every 1,000 workers last year, compared with 0.39 in 2020.
About 26 per cent of workers succeeded with their charges. In total, employers paid back $1.5 million for wrongful dismissals claims.
They also had to make redress with compensation, clarifications or facilitation of the employee’s job search.
Unsubstantiated claims, said the report, “often involved disputes over work performance or had arisen due to miscommunication between the employer and employee”.
Some of these claims came through a portal, which will soon be enhanced with artificial intelligence to aid settlements in future.
The Online Dispute Resolution portal, as it is called, allows the mediator to facilitate virtual conversations between the employer and worker, and guide them to reach a resolution.
The portal has handled 430 claims since its launch in March 2021, with 32 per cent concluded among contentious parties before TADM had to step in.
Another 56 per cent were resolved in virtual mediation without parties even having to meet.
Further improvements to allow remote signing of settlement agreements and a chatbot to help with claims filing and computation are being planned by next year, the report said.
Besides raising workers’ understanding of the Employment Act, MOM is also stepping up enforcement checks for errant employers, especially those hiring workers in vulnerable sectors under the Progressive Wage Model, such as cleaning and landscaping, as well as security services.
About 90 employers were found to have breached progressive wage levels and about a third of security agencies deployed their officers beyond the maximum work hours allowed under the Act last year.
Here’s a look at three cases that were handled by the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management, which mediates and advises workers and employers on employment disputes. Names have been withheld for confidentiality.
Mr Lee’s Singapore employer agreed to help him switch employment to a vendor after he decided to stay put in Malaysia – where he had returned home to during the pandemic – after border controls ceased.
But the employer botched the paperwork, and he lodged a claim with TADM for wrongful dismissal.
TADM found no conclusive evidence to back up his claim.
After mediation, Mr Lee’s employer compensated him for his loss of income during that period as a gesture of goodwill.
Gary was owed more than $7,000 for supplies and meals that he was regularly asked to buy for other workers when his company’s cash flow dried up during the pandemic.
After several failed tries to get his boss to pay him, he filed a claim for unpaid salary.
Under mediation, his boss agreed to settle in three instalments, with progress to be tracked by TADM.
After two months, Gary got his reimbursements.
Daniel took his boss to TADM for unpaid salary after working overtime for no pay, and receiving only part of his wages in his two years of employment.
His boss agreed to pay less than half of what he was owed.
After TADM warned that the case would be sent to the Employment Claims Tribunals for adjudication, Daniel’s boss relented.
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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.