More locals sought help on salary disputes, wrongful dismissals

More local workers sought help from the authorities last year, as they locked horns with their employers amid the pandemic on issues such as wrongful dismissals and the salaries they were owed.

Most of the disputes were over salary claims, and these were more commonly found in the accommodation and food services, information and communications, and construction industries, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM).

Latest figures published yesterday showed employment claims and appeals lodged by local employees went up, from two per 1,000 employees in 2019 to 2.17 per 1,000 employees last year.

In contrast, employment claims by foreign employees fell sharply, from 5.13 claims per 1,000 employees in 2019 to 3.61 last year. This led to a decline on overall employment claims lodged, from 3.04 claims per 1,000 employees in 2019 to 2.59 last year.

Of all the claims made last year, salary claims made up some 83 per cent, while dismissal claims made up 15 per cent.

When compared with the previous year, there were fewer disputes over salary claims last year. These fell from 2.68 claims to 2.15 claims per 1,000 employees.

But among local employees, more salary claims were lodged, rising from 1.53 per 1,000 local employees in 2019 to 1.61 last year.

Among foreign employees, however, salary claims dipped from 4.98 claims per 1,000 foreign employees in 2019 to 3.47 last year.

The industries in which foreign employees made the most salary claims were arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food services, as well as construction.

Explaining why foreign employees filed fewer claims, MOM and TADM said: "One important reason for the improvement is MOM's enhanced measures to detect and arrest salary issues among foreign employees since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic."

The authorities said that about 84 per cent of salary claims were resolved within two months at TADM, with 16 per cent referred to the Employment Claims Tribunal for adjudication.

"This is slightly lower than the 87 per cent figure in 2019 as mediated settlements were more challenging to arrive at due to more employers facing financial difficulties," said MOM and TADM. The weak economic climate made it more difficult for parties to agree on the payment terms, they noted.

About 92 per cent of employees managed to fully recover their owed salaries with the help of the tripartite alliance and the tribunal. In total, MOM and TADM recovered $15 million in owed salaries.

Meanwhile, wrongful dismissal claims stabilised in the second half of last year after a spike in the second quarter. Overall, such claims remained low, with just 0.39 claims per 1,000 employees.

Again, local employees filed more such claims - at 0.5 claims per 1,000 local employees - compared with 0.14 claims per 1,000 foreign employees.

"Not all employees who seek compensation or reinstatement by lodging dismissal claims were dismissed wrongfully. Some of these claims had arisen due to poor communication by their employers," said MOM and TADM. As such, only about 26 per cent of all wrongful dismissal claims were found to be substantiated.

National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay said yesterday that the TADM@NTUC team likewise saw an increase in cases by 38 per cent last year.

Nearly seven in 10 cases handled by NTUC concluded within four weeks, with the majority resolved through advisory and mediation, Mr Tay said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, the Singapore National Employers Federation said it was pleased that employment claims and appeals declined last year. It said employers were generally responsible in managing excess manpower during the crisis.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 10, 2021, with the headline More locals sought help on salary disputes, wrongful dismissals. Subscribe