The manager of an information technology company has pleaded guilty to assaulting an employee after a clip of the incident went viral.
Lee Yew Nam, manager of Encore eServices, has admitted to four out of six charges brought against him for physically and verbally abusing one of his employees in 2013.
The staff member was paid S$500 per month, beginning as an intern in 2010 and then continuing his role at the company for the same rate of pay. He claimed he had to work 12 hours a day and did not receive any leave or work bonuses.
Allegedly Lim had no fulltime staff working for him, choosing instead to hire only interns. He would have had no HR team in a small business such as this either.
During his employment at Encore, the court heard that the worker was often physically assaulted by Lee for reasons such as failing to arrange files neatly on his computer or answering a customer’s request incorrectly. In one incident, he was slapped repeatedly and fell off his chair.
Eventually, another intern at the company asked Lee to calm down. That same co-worker used his mobile phone to record Lee slapping the victim four times about the head. The video was uploaded to YouTube and quickly went viral, generating a great deal of outrage towards Lee.
The worker filed a police report and lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower which then began an investigation into the worker’s employment terms and any possible infringements of the Employment Act.
Now that Lee has pleaded guilty, the case has been adjourned until 14 September when he will face a maximum punishment of two years’ jail and a fine of S$5,000 under the Penal Code.
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