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Employment Act 1968
2020 REVISED EDITION
This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021
An Act relating to employment.
[15 August 1968]
PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1. This Act is the Employment Act 1968.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“approved medical institution” means a hospital, clinic, healthcare establishment or other medical institution which the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, declares as an approved medical institution;
“authorised officer” means any public officer appointed as an authorised officer under section 3(2);
“basic rate of pay” means the total amount of money (including wage adjustments and increments) to which an employee is entitled under his or her contract of service either for working for a period of time, that is, for one hour, one day, one week, one month or for such other period as may be stated or implied in his or her contract of service, or for each completed piece or task of work but does not include —
(a) additional payments by way of overtime payments;
(b) additional payments by way of bonus payments or annual wage supplements;
(c) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her for special expenses incurred by him or her in the course of his or her employment;
(d) productivity incentive payments; and
(e) any allowance however described;
“civil contravention” means a contravention that is declared to be a civil contravention under section 126A;
“collective agreement” means an agreement as defined under the Industrial Relations Act 1960;
“confinement” means the delivery of a child (including a stillborn child);
“constructional contractor” means any person, firm, corporation or company who or which is established for the purpose of undertaking, either exclusively or in addition to or in conjunction with any other business, any type of constructional work, and who or which is carrying out the constructional work for or on behalf of some other person under a contract entered into by that person, firm, corporation or company with such other person, and includes heirs, executors, administrators, assigns and successors of that person, firm, corporation or company;
“constructional work” means any building and civil engineering work and includes repair, maintenance, alteration and demolition work;
“contract of service” means any agreement, whether written or oral, express or implied, whereby one person agrees to employ another as an employee and that other agrees to serve his or her employer as an employee and includes an apprenticeship contract or agreement;
“contractor” means any person who contracts with a principal to supply labour or to carry out the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal in the course of or for the purposes of the principal’s trade or business;
“day” means a period of 24 hours beginning at midnight;
“dependant” means any of the following members of an employee’s family, namely, wife, husband, father, mother, child and any adopted or illegitimate child living with or dependent on the employee;
“dismiss” means to terminate the contract of service between an employer and an employee at the employer’s initiative, with or without notice and for cause or otherwise, and includes the resignation of an employee if the employee can show, on a balance of probabilities, that the employee did not resign voluntarily but was forced to do so because of any conduct or omission, or course of conduct or omissions, engaged in by the employer;
“domestic worker” means any house, stable or garden servant or motor car driver, employed in or in connection with the domestic services of any private premises;
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer and includes a workman, and any officer or employee of the Government included in a category, class or description of such officers or employees declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act or any provision thereof, but does not include any of the following:
(a) any seafarer;
(b) any domestic worker;
(c) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(d) any person belonging to any other class of persons whom the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare not to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
“employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes —
(a) the Government in respect of such categories, classes or descriptions of officers or employees of the Government as are declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
(b) any statutory authority;
(c) the duly authorised agent or manager of the employer; and
(d) the person who owns or is carrying on or for the time being responsible for the management of the profession, business, trade or work in which the employee is engaged;
“gross rate of pay” means the total amount of money including allowances to which an employee is entitled under his or her contract of service either for working for a period of time, that is, for one hour, one day, one week, one month or for such other period as may be stated or implied in his or her contract of service, or for each completed piece or task of work but does not include —
(a) additional payments by way of overtime payments;
(b) additional payments by way of bonus payments or annual wage supplements;
(c) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her for special expenses incurred by him or her in the course of his or her employment;
(d) productivity incentive payments; and
(e) travelling, food or housing allowances;
“hours of work” means the time during which an employee is at the employer’s disposal and is not free to dispose of his or her own time and movements exclusive of any intervals allowed for rest and meals;
“industrial undertaking” means public and private undertakings and any branch thereof, and includes particularly —
(a) mines, quarries and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth;
(b) undertakings in which articles are manufactured, assembled, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including undertakings engaged in shipbuilding, or in the generation, transformation or transmission of electricity or motive power of any kind;
(c) undertakings engaged in constructional work; and
(d) undertakings engaged in the transport of passengers or goods by road, rail, sea, inland waterway or air, including the handling of goods at docks, quays, wharves, warehouses or airports;
“inspecting officer” means any person appointed as an inspecting officer under section 3(2);
“machinery” includes all oil engines, gas engines, steam engines and any other machines in which mechanical movement, either linear or rotated or both, takes place, steam boilers, gas cylinders, air receivers, steam receivers, steam containers, cast iron underfired vulcanizers, refrigerating plants, pressure receivers, all appliances for the transmission of power by ropes, belts, chains, driving straps or bands or gearing, electrical generators and electrical motors;
“mediation request” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Employment Claims Act 2016;
“medical officer” means —
(a) a medical practitioner employed by the Government or an approved medical institution; or
(b) any other medical practitioner whom the Minister declares, by notification in the Gazette, to be a medical officer for the purposes of this Act;
“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered under the Medical Registration Act 1997, and includes a dentist registered under the Dental Registration Act 1999;
“no-pay leave”, for an employee, means leave of absence without pay granted by the employer at the request of the employee;
“overtime” means the number of hours worked in any one day or in any one week in excess of the limits specified in Part 4;
“place of employment” means any place provided by the employer where work is carried on, for or on behalf of an employer, by an employee;
“principal” means any person who, in the course of or for the purposes of the person’s trade or business, contracts with a contractor for the supply of labour or for the execution by the contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal;
“productivity incentive payment” means a variable payment, whether made annually or otherwise, to an employee as a reward for —
(a) an improvement to the employee’s performance; or
(b) an increase in the employee’s productivity or contribution to the employer’s business, trade or undertaking,
but does not include any payment which forms part of the employee’s regular remuneration;
“quarters” means any building provided or intended to be provided for a workman to live in either temporarily or permanently, and includes any room or building used or intended to be used whether communally or privately for the purposes of cooking, eating, washing or bathing and any latrines and urinals;
“salary” means all remuneration including allowances payable to an employee in respect of work done under his or her contract of service, but does not include —
(a) the value of any house accommodation, supply of electricity, water, medical attendance, or other amenity, or of any service excluded by general or special order of the Minister published in the Gazette;
(b) any contribution paid by the employer on his or her own account to any pension fund or provident fund;
(c) any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession;
(d) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her for special expenses incurred by him or her in the course of his or her employment;
(e) any gratuity payable on discharge or retirement; and
(f) any retrenchment benefit payable on retrenchment;
“seafarer” means any person, including the master, who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a ship, but does not include —
(a) a pilot;
(b) a port worker;
(c) a person temporarily employed on the ship during the period it is in port; and
(d) a person who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a harbour craft or pleasure craft licensed under regulations made under section 41 of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Act 1996, when the harbour craft or pleasure craft is used within a port declared by the Minister under section 3 of that Act;
“stillborn child” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021;
[Act 19 of 2021 wef 29/05/2022]
“subcontractor” means any person who contracts with a contractor for the supply of labour or for the execution by the subcontractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the contractor for the contractor’s principal, and includes any person who contracts with a subcontractor to supply labour or to carry out the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the subcontractor for a contractor;
“subcontractor for labour” means any person who contracts with a contractor or subcontractor to supply the labour required for the execution of the whole or any part of any work a contractor or subcontractor has contracted to carry out for a principal or contractor, as the case may be;
“Tribunal” means an Employment Claims Tribunal constituted under section 4 of the State Courts Act 1970;
“wages” means salary;
“week” means a continuous period of 7 days;
“workman” means —
(a) any person, skilled or unskilled, who has entered into a contract of service with an employer pursuant to which he or she is engaged in manual labour, including any artisan or apprentice, but excluding any seafarer or domestic worker;
(b) any person, other than clerical staff, employed in the operation or maintenance of mechanically‑propelled vehicles used for the transport of passengers for hire or for commercial purposes;
(c) any person employed partly for manual labour and partly for the purpose of supervising in person any workman in and throughout the performance of his or her work:
Provided that when any person is employed by any one employer partly as a workman and partly in some other capacity or capacities, that person is deemed to be a workman unless it can be established that the time during which that workman has been required to work as a workman in any one salary period as defined in Part 3 has on no occasion amounted to or exceeded one‑half of the total time during which that person has been required to work in such salary period;
(d) any person specified in the First Schedule; or
(e) any person whom the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be a workman for the purposes of this Act.
[6/2014; 27/2015; 21/2016; 55/2018; 19/2021]
(2) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
Appointment of officers
3.—(1) The Minister may appoint an officer as the Commissioner for Labour (called in this Act the Commissioner) and also one or more officers as Deputy Commissioner for Labour, Principal Assistant Commissioner for Labour or Assistant Commissioner for Labour, who, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed, may perform all duties imposed and exercise all powers conferred on the Commissioner by this Act, and every duty so performed and power so exercised is deemed to have been duly performed and exercised for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Minister may appoint such number of authorised officers, inspecting officers and other officers as the Minister may consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act.
[27/2015]
(3) The Commissioner may in writing appoint an individual (who may or may not be a public officer) as an authorised person for the purpose of carrying out any function or duty of the Commissioner under this Act or any other written law relating to employment, employment terms or the relations between employers and employees.
[21/2016]
(4) The Commissioner must, in writing, issue to each authorised person an authorisation specifying —
(a) the functions and duties of the Commissioner that the authorised person is authorised to carry out;
(b) the powers of the Commissioner that the authorised person is authorised to exercise;
(c) the conditions of the authorisation; and
(d) the limitations to which the authorisation is subject.
[21/2016]
Rules and orders
4. The Minister may make rules and orders for the conduct of the duties of officers under this Act.
Minister may restrict application
5. The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare that this Act or any Part or provisions thereof does not apply to any premises or class of premises specified in the notification.
Existing law not affected
6. Nothing in this Act operates to relieve any employer of any duty or liability imposed upon the employer by any other written law for the time being in force or to limit any powers given to any public officer by any other written law.
7. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]
PART 2
CONTRACTS OF SERVICE
Illegal terms of contract of service
8. Every term of a contract of service which provides a condition of service which is less favourable to an employee than any of the conditions of service prescribed by this Act is illegal and void to the extent that it is so less favourable.
Termination of contract
9.—(1) A contract of service for a specified piece of work or for a specified period of time, unless otherwise terminated in accordance with the provisions of this Part, terminates when the work specified in the contract is completed or the period of time for which the contract was made has expired.
(2) A contract of service for an unspecified period of time is deemed to run until terminated by either party in accordance with the provisions of this Part.
Notice of termination of contract
10.—(1) Either party to a contract of service may at any time give to the other party notice of the firstmentioned party’s intention to terminate the contract of service.
(2) The length of the notice must be the same for both employer and employee and is to be determined by any provision made for the notice in the terms of the contract of service, or, in the absence of such provision, must be in accordance with subsection (3).
(3) The notice to terminate the service of a person who is employed under a contract of service must be at least —
(a) one day’s notice if the person has been so employed for less than 26 weeks;
(b) one week’s notice if the person has been so employed for 26 weeks or more but less than 2 years;
(c) 2 weeks’ notice if the person has been so employed for 2 years or more but less than 5 years; and
(d) 4 weeks’ notice if the person has been so employed for 5 years or more.
(4) This section does not prevent either party from waiving that party’s right to notice on any occasion.
(5) The notice must be written and may be given at any time, and the day on which the notice is given is included in the period of the notice.
Termination of contract without notice
11.—(1) Either party to a contract of service may terminate the contract of service without notice or, if notice has already been given in accordance with section 10, without waiting for the expiry of that notice, by paying to the other party a sum equal to the amount of salary at the gross rate of pay which would have accrued to the employee during the period of the notice and in the case of a monthly‑rated employee where the period of the notice is less than a month, the amount payable for any one day is the gross rate of pay for one day’s work.
(2) Either party to a contract of service may terminate the contract of service without notice in the event of any wilful breach by the other party of a condition of the contract of service.
Contractual age
12.—(1) Despite any other written law, a person below 18 years of age is, subject to the provisions of this Act, competent to enter into a contract of service.
(2) No contract of service as an employee is enforceable against a person below 18 years of age and no damages or indemnity are recoverable from that person in respect of the contract of service unless it is for his or her benefit.
When contract deemed to be broken by employer and employee
13.—(1) An employer is deemed to have broken the employer’s contract of service with the employee if the employer fails to pay salary in accordance with Part 3.
(2) An employee is deemed to have broken the employee’s contract of service with the employer if the employee is absent from work for more than 2 days continuously without prior leave from the employer and —
(a) the employee has no reasonable excuse for the absence; or
(b) the employee does not inform and does not attempt to inform the employer of the excuse for the absence.
[27/2015]
Dismissal
14.—(1) An employer may after due inquiry dismiss without notice an employee employed by the employer on the grounds of misconduct inconsistent with the fulfilment of the express or implied conditions of the employee’s service, except that instead of dismissing an employee an employer may —
(a) instantly down-grade the employee; or
(b) instantly suspend the employee from work without payment of salary for a period not exceeding one week.
[26/2013]
(2) Despite subsection (1), but subject to section 3 of the Employment Claims Act 2016, where a relevant employee considers that he or she has been dismissed without just cause or excuse by his or her employer, the employee may lodge a claim, under section 13 of that Act, for either of the following remedies:
(a) reinstatement in the employee’s former employment;
(b) compensation.
[55/2018]
(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), a relevant employee means —
(a) an employee employed in a managerial or an executive position —
(i) who is dismissed with notice; or
(ii) who is dismissed without notice but receives payment of any salary in lieu of notice,
after having served that employer for at least 6 months in any position (whether or not a managerial or an executive position);
(b) an employee employed in a managerial or an executive position who is dismissed without notice and without salary in lieu of such notice; or
(c) an employee not employed in a managerial or an executive position.
[26/2013; 55/2018]
(3) If a Tribunal hearing the claim is satisfied that the employee has been dismissed without just cause or excuse, the Tribunal may, despite any rule of law or agreement to the contrary —
(a) in a claim for reinstatement of the employee in his or her former employment, direct the employer —
(i) to reinstate the employee in the employee’s former employment; and
(ii) to pay the employee an amount equivalent to the wages that the employee would have earned, if the employee had not been dismissed; or
(b) in a claim for compensation, direct the employer to pay, as compensation to the employee, an amount of wages determined by the Tribunal.
[55/2018]
(4) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(5) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(6) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(7) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(7A) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(8) For the purposes of an inquiry under subsection (1), the employer —
(a) may suspend the employee from work for —
(i) a period not exceeding one week; or
(ii) such longer period as the Commissioner may determine on an application by the employer; but
(b) must pay the employee at least half the employee’s salary during the period the employee is suspended from work.
[55/2018]
(9) If the inquiry does not disclose any misconduct on the employee’s part, the employer must immediately restore to the employee the full amount of the salary so withheld.
Termination by employee threatened by danger
15. An employee may terminate his or her contract of service with his or her employer without notice where the employee or the employee’s dependant is immediately threatened by danger to the person by violence or disease that the employee did not by his or her contract of service undertake to run.
Liability on breach of contract
16. Subject to anything in the contract of service to the contrary, the party who breaks the contract of service is liable to pay to the other party a sum equal to the amount the firstmentioned party would have been liable to pay under section 11 had the firstmentioned party terminated the contract of service without notice or with insufficient notice.
Contract of service not to restrict rights of employees to join, participate in or organise trade unions
17. Subject to any other written law for the time being in force, nothing in any contract of service restricts, in any way, the right of any employee who is a party to such contract —
(a) to join a registered trade union;
(b) to participate in the activities of a registered trade union, whether as an officer of the trade union or otherwise; or
(c) to associate with any other persons for the purpose of organising a trade union in accordance with the provisions of the Trade Unions Act 1940.
Change of employer
18.—(1) If by or under any written law a contract of employment between any body corporate and an employee is modified and some other body corporate is substituted as the employer, the employee’s period of employment at the time when the modification takes effect counts as a period of employment with that other body corporate, and the change of employer does not break the continuity of the period of employment.
(2) If on an employer’s death the employee is taken into the employment of the personal representatives or trustees of the deceased, the employee’s period of employment at the time of the death counts as a period of employment with the employer’s personal representatives or trustees, and the death of the employer does not break the continuity of the period of employment.
(3) If there is a change in the partners, personal representatives or trustees who employ any person, the employee’s period of employment at the time of the change counts as a period of employment with the partners, personal representatives or trustees after the change, and the change does not break the continuity of the period of employment.
Transfer of employment
18A.—(1) If an undertaking (whether or not it is an undertaking established by or under any written law) or part thereof is transferred from one person to another —
(a) such transfer does not operate to terminate the contract of service of any person employed by the transferor in the undertaking or part transferred but such contract of service has effect after the transfer as if originally made between the person so employed and the transferee; and
(b) the period of employment of an employee in the undertaking or part transferred at the time of transfer counts as a period of employment with the transferee, and the transfer does not break the continuity of the period of employment.
(2) Without affecting subsection (1), on completion of a transfer referred to in that subsection —
(a) all the transferor’s rights, powers, duties and liabilities under or in connection with any such contract of service are transferred by virtue of this section to the transferee;
(b) any act or omission done before the transfer by the transferor in respect of that contract of service is deemed to have been done by the transferee; and
(c) any act or omission done before the transfer by an employee employed in the undertaking or part transferred in relation to the transferor is deemed to have been done in relation to the transferee.
(3) On the completion of a transfer mentioned in subsection (1), it is declared for the avoidance of doubt that the terms and conditions of service of an employee whose contract of service is preserved under that subsection are the same as those enjoyed by the employee immediately prior to the transfer.
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not transfer or otherwise affect the liability of any person to be prosecuted for, convicted of and sentenced for any offence.
(5) As soon as it is reasonable and before a transfer under subsection (1) takes place, to enable consultations to take place between the transferor and the affected employees and between the transferor and a trade union of affected employees (if any), the transferor must notify the affected employees and the trade union of affected employees (if any) of —
(a) the fact that the transfer is to take place, the approximate date on which it is to take place and the reasons for it;
(b) the implications of the transfer and the measures that the transferor envisages taking, in connection with the transfer, in relation to the affected employees or, if the transferor envisages that no measures will be so taken, that fact; and
(c) the measures that the transferee envisages the transferee will, in connection with the transfer, take in relation to such of those employees as, by virtue of subsection (1), become employees of the transferee after the transfer or, if the transferee envisages that no measures will be so taken, that fact.
(6) As soon as it is reasonable, the transferee must give the transferor such information so as to enable the transferor to perform the duty imposed on the transferor by virtue of subsection (5)(c).
(7) Where the Commissioner considers that there has been an inordinate delay —
(a) by the transferor in notifying the affected employees or a trade union of affected employees of the matters set out in subsection (5); or
(b) by the transferee in notifying the transferor of the information set out in subsection (6),
the Commissioner may, by written notice, direct the transferor to comply with subsection (5) or the transferee to comply with subsection (6) (as the case may be) within such time as may be specified in the notice.
(8) Where, immediately before a transfer referred to in subsection (1), a trade union is recognised by the transferor for the purposes of the Industrial Relations Act 1960 in respect of any employee who in consequence of the transfer becomes the employee of the transferee, the trade union, after the transfer —
(a) is deemed to be recognised by the transferee for the purposes of the Industrial Relations Act 1960 if, after the transfer, the majority of employees employed by the transferee are members of the trade union; or
(b) in any other case, is deemed to be recognised by the transferee only for the purpose of representing the employee on any dispute arising —
(i) from any collective agreement that was entered into between the transferor and the trade union while the collective agreement remains in force; or
(ii) from the transfer of the employee’s employment from the transferor to the transferee under this section.
(8A) For the purposes of subsection (8)(b), any collective agreement that was entered into between the transferor and the trade union of the affected employees and in force immediately before the transfer continues in force between the transferee and the trade union of the affected employees for a period of 18 months after the date of the transfer or until the date of its expiry as specified in the collective agreement, whichever is the later.
[26/2013]
(9) A dispute or disagreement between the transferor and an employee or the transferee and an employee arising from a transfer under subsection (1), whether before or after the transfer, may be referred by a party to the dispute or disagreement to the Commissioner under section 115 and is deemed to be a dispute to which that section applies.
(10) Where a dispute or disagreement has been referred to the Commissioner pursuant to subsection (9), the Commissioner has, in addition to the powers conferred under section 115, the powers —
(a) to delay or prohibit the transfer of employment of the employee to the dispute from the transferor to the transferee under subsection (1); and
(b) to order that the transfer of employment of the employee to the dispute from the transferor to the transferee under subsection (1) be subject to any terms that the Commissioner considers just.
(11) The Minister may make regulations that the Minister considers necessary or expedient to give effect to the provisions of this section and, in particular, may make regulations —
(a) to provide for the form and manner of consultations between the transferor and the affected employees and between the transferor and a trade union of affected employees under subsection (5);
(b) for the type of information that must be communicated by the transferor to the affected employees and to a trade union of affected employees under subsection (5), or by the transferee to the transferor under subsection (6); and
(c) to provide for a mechanism for conciliation of disputes arising out of or relating to a transfer mentioned in subsection (1) between any employer and employee.
(12) Nothing in this section prevents a transferee of an undertaking referred to in subsection (1) and an employee whose contract of service is preserved under that subsection or a trade union representing such an employee from negotiating for and agreeing to terms of service different from those contained in the contract of service that is preserved under that subsection.
(13) In this section —
“affected employee” means any employee of the transferor who may be affected by a transfer under subsection (1) or may be affected by the measures taken in connection with such a transfer;
“trade union” means a trade union which has been —
(a) registered under any written law for the time being in force relating to the registration of trade unions; and
(b) accorded recognition by the employer pursuant to section 17(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1960;
“transfer” includes the disposition of a business as a going concern and a transfer effected by sale, amalgamation, merger, reconstruction or operation of law;
“undertaking” includes any trade or business.
Offence
19. Any employer who enters into a contract of service or collective agreement contrary to the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an offence.
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