Debated in Parliament on 24 Sep 2025.
Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry will provide that settlements mediated by the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management automatically become Court judgments, with penalties for employer defaults; (b) if not, why not; and (c) how is the requirement for workers to commence separate Court enforcement proceedings when an employer defaults assessed to balance employee interests against defaulting employers.
The power to grant a Court order is exercised by the Judiciary. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) does not have the legal authority to exercise a judicial power to convert settlement agreements into Court orders. Either party may instead register a settlement agreement recorded at the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) with the District Court.
A registered settlement agreement is enforceable as an order of the District Court and entitles one party to take enforcement action against the defaulting party for breaching the settlement agreement. The Courts will determine if the terms of the Court order have been breached. Whilst a settlement that is not registered with the District Court is still legally binding, a party must first successfully sue the defaulting party for breaching the terms of the settlement agreement and obtain a Court order, before any enforcement action can be taken.
Notwithstanding the Court's involvement, MOM and tripartite partners have put in place a process to ensure that workers receive the agreed payment as far as possible. Once a settlement agreement has been registered and is enforceable as a Court order, if the worker did not receive payment by the due date, he can inform TADM who will help to engage the employer, advise the worker on the process to apply to the Courts to enforce the Court order, and escalate, as necessary, to MOM for possible enforcement actions. Penalties, such as warnings, fines, debarment from applying for work passes, and prosecution in Court, may be imposed on errant employers.
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