90% of salary disputes settled out of court

Most salary claims by workers are settled by the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), wrote representatives from the alliance and Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

In about 90% of the cases, claimants receive full payment from their employers.

Only 10% of salary claims handled by TADM were sent to court by the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT), majority of which resulted in orders to the employers for payment.

In a joint press statement, Christine Loh, director, Employment Standards Enforcement at MOM’s Labour Relations and Workplaces Division, as well as Kandhavel Periyasamy, general manager at TADM, responded to claims that bosses of foreign workers “ignore court orders to pay up”.

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According to MOM’s findings, the incidence of non-compliant employers is a mere 1% of all filed disputes. MOM investigates and prosecutes all of such cases.

“Where employers failed to comply with ECT orders, it was predominantly because they were in genuine financial difficulty,” the statement wrote.

“However, foreign workers in such situations are not left to fend for themselves. They will generally receive payments from insurers or the Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund.”

The authorities added that early reporting of disputes is critical to improve the chance of full salary recovery. This is why MOM consistently educates workers to approach TADM as soon as they encounter any issues and urges non-governmental organisations that assist foreign workers to do the same.