A proposed amendment of the Employment Act (EA) was passed by the Parliament on 18^th of November. It will be put into effect from January 2009.

In order to cope with changes of working environment, rise of wages, and increase in number of white collar laborers, etc, the revision was suggested in September this year. It has been 13 years since the act was last altered in 1995. According to Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the amendment is mainly aimed at safeguarding basic employment standards and providing solutions to labor disputes. Below are the brief details regarding the amendment:-

●    Inclusive of Confidential Staff such as secretary and HR personnel

●    Exclusive of Skilled Worker with monthly income over SGD4,500

●    Junior Executive with monthly salary of SGD2, 500 and below can bring a case concerning wage trouble into a labor courthouse.

●    Maximum wage of Unskilled Worker shifted from SGD1,600 to SGD2,000  

●    Paid Sick Leave qualifying period shortened from 6 months to 3 months after employment

●    Definition of hourly waged Part timer changed from <30 hours to <35 hours.

●    The unwritten definition of dismissal is stipulated as a termination of employment relations regardless of any reason

●    Penalties of owing wages and unfair dismissal enhanced

●    Penalties of unfair dismissal increased from SGD1, 000 to SGD5, 000 for 1^st time offences, and from SGD2, 000 to SGD 10,000 for subsequent offences.

For further details regarding the amendment bill, please refer to the URL below.

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/pdf/20081118/employmentbillspeech.pdf