Accommodation for Foreign Workers

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower (a) if he will consider requiring employers of foreign workers to show proof of accommodation that will be provided to the workers; (b) what is the number of foreign workers who have been found to be housed in inappropriate accommodation in the last two years; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider heavier penalties to deter errant employers from providing inappropriate housing to their foreign workers.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Employers are already required to register their foreign workers' accommodation address with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) before they can collect their Work Permit cards. The address registration system will reject the registration if the address is unapproved and the worker cannot collect his Work Permit card. Falsely declaring an address is an offence under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Employers are also required to report any change in their foreign workers' residential address within five days. The penalty for not doing so is a fine of up to $5,000, or a jail sentence of up to six months, or both. Earlier this month, the general manager and a site manager of a company were charged in Court for declaring false addresses for their foreign workers to facilitate their company's Work Permit applications.

Since 2009, MOM has relocated over 33,000 foreign workers from unacceptable accommodation. Enforcement actions were also taken against the employers concerned. Employers may be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to six months or both, for each worker found to be housed in unacceptable accommodation. We press for stiffer penalties against employers who repeatedly fail to provide acceptable accommodation for their foreign workers, or house their workers in egregious conditions. For instance, in 2010, one employer was fined $60,000 for housing workers in unacceptable conditions. In addition, errant employers are also barred from hiring foreign workers for a period of time.

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The Government will continue active enforcement to ensure that workers are housed in acceptable accommodation. We will also be reviewing our administrative requirements and penalties to ensure that they are adequate for this purpose.