Employment Rights of Low-wage Contract Workers

Sir, the Employment Act is the primary legislation that sets out the basic employment terms and conditions in Singapore. Regardless of whether employees are on term or permanent contracts, they are protected under the Employment Act.

All workers covered under the Act enjoy protection of salary payment, protection against unfair dismissal, notice period requirements and conditions pertaining to termination of service. Some of these workers are further covered under Part IV of the Act, which provides for additional coverage, such as rest day, hours of work and annual leave.

Notwithstanding these, we understand that contract workers may feel that they lack employment certainty and job security due to the short tenure of their contracts. While they are protected under the Employment Act, they might not be eligible for certain benefits, such as annual sick leave, if they do not meet the qualifying period of three months due to breaks in contracts.

We encourage employers to consider converting their contract employees into permanent staff, if they are found to be suitable for the job and if the job is expected to be available on a permanent basis. Employees who feel a greater sense of belonging ultimately contribute better to the performance of the company.

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We are working closely with our Tripartite Partners and our stakeholders to review the Employment Act. At this stage, we are considering suggestions and feedback on various issues, including the protection of low-wage contract workers. Ultimately, we wish to ensure that the Act safeguards basic employment standards to those who need it, while still giving employers sufficient flexibility to manage their businesses. We will be sharing more details in due course.

Can the Ministry consider making it mandatory through changes in the Employment Act for the existing or new employers of low-wage workers working for outsourced services contracts to recognise their years in service, and ensure they will not be worse off in terms of salary and other statutory employment benefits, such as annual leave, under the new outsourced services contract?

Sir, the Government has been working closely with the Tripartite Partners to ensure that low-wage workers working for outsourcing companies are treated fairly. We have updated the Tripartite Advisory on best-sourcing practices to encourage service buyers to outsource responsibly, including outsourcing that ensures the basic rights of the workers. However, this is a complex matter, and we suggest dealing with this when we review the Act, and this may come up for discussion maybe later next year.

I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary in relation to my fellow Parliamentary colleague's question earlier on salary increments of low-wage contract workers, could the Senior Parliamentary Secretary update us on the progress of the recent NWC guidelines in recommending the $50 salary increment for low-wage workers? How is the progress in the non-unionised sector?

The suggestion had just been proposed and some companies are already implementing it. We will collate the information. If the Member would like to know more about this, he can file a question on this matter at the next sitting.

On low-wage workers, I understand that there is a probation period and, during the probation period, many of the rights for contract staff are not included, for example, medical leave, compassionate leave and annual leave. So, is there a way in the Employment Act to either reduce the probation period for low-wage workers or to allow contract rights under the contracts for permanent staff to also be included in the probation period?

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Sir, these are some of the elements of the review in the Employment Act that we are now studying. We are already consulting the Tripartite Partners and other stakeholders. There will be two parts in this. The first part will be completed later this year and we will launch the second phase of the study sometime next year, so some of these suggestions given by Members will be taken into consideration.

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