Over 5,000 salary claims filed last year; 39 firms fined for not reporting injuries

SINGAPORE — Workers here filed more than 5,000 salary claims last year. Of these, close to 800 cases were brought before the State Court’s Employment Claims Tribunal after mediation failed, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said on Wednesday (March 6).

Last year, too, 39 employers were fined for failing to report a work-related injury — compared to just one in 2017 — as the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) stepped up enforcement efforts against such errant companies.

These figures were disclosed in written responses to parliamentary questions from Mr Louis Ng, Member of Parliament (MP) for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency, and Nominated MP Anthea Ong.

The following are other statistics Mrs Teo revealed.

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SALARY ARREARS

Of every 20 workers who disputed their salary last year:

• 17 managed to find a settlement after undergoing a compulsory session of mediation at the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM)

• Three failed at the mediation stage and were referred to the Employment Claims Tribunals. One dropped his case and two filed for adjudication (Note: Two of three adjudicated claims resulted in money orders issued to employers to settle the salary claims)

Number of salary claims raised to Employment Claims Tribunals: 794

• Cases involving Singaporean employees: 477

• Cases involving foreign employees: 317

Of workers who won their cases:

• About half received full payment from employers

• 16 per cent reported partial payment

• 36 per cent reported no payment

• 1 per cent (or 12 individuals) reported no payment involving an employer who wilfully refused to pay despite having the means to do so and MOM is investigating and prosecuting these employers

Number of low-income claimants who did not fully recover their salaries: 129

(Note: They received added financial assistance through the MOM-funded Short Term Relief Fund or the Migrant Workers’ Centre’s Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund.)

WORK-RELATED INJURIES

Number of composite fine cases recorded since 2014:

• 2014: 0

• 2015: 0

• 2016: 0

• 2017: 1

• 2018: 39

Number of employers jailed for covering up a workplace accident so far: One (A site manager was convicted in 2016 and jailed six months for abandoning an injured worker along an alley.)