SINGAPORE: Two cleaning companies have been convicted for failing to pay their workers.

Between October 2006 and February 2007, 53 cleaners with Home and Industrial Maintenance Services filed complaints with the Manpower Ministry.

They claimed the company owed them wages, ranging from a few days to one and a half months, totalling S$31,268.22.

When the company failed to comply with a payment order by the Labour Court, 75 charges were brought against the company.

Its managing director, Ang Ser Hock, pleaded guilty on August 8 to 53 charges.

The remaining 22 counts were taken into consideration during sentencing.

But as Ang was not able to pay any fine, the court instead imposed a four-month custodial sentence on him.

In the second case, IMM & IMM Cleaning Services was convicted for failing to pay S$5,573 owed to 14 cleaners, after terminating their contracts.

It initially failed to comply with Labour Court orders but later paid its workers.

The company was prosecuted for violating the Employment Act and was fined S$1,500 on August 13.

Its managing director Andrew Sivanesan Balakrishnan was also fined S$1,500.

Another 12 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Under the Employment Act, employers can be fined up to S$1,000 per charge and jailed up to six months for failing to pay their workers in a timely manner.

The law requires them to make payment within seven days from the end of the salary period or within three days of an employee's job termination.

The latest cases bring the total number of cleaning companies the Ministry has prosecuted for Employment Act violations since 2007 to four.

Another five are still being investigated. - CNA/vm