SHORT-TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS

SHORT-TERM EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS: **

(Compliance with Employment Act): **

39.

Mrs Josephine Teo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether there has been an increase in the number of Singaporeans on short-term employment contracts over the last three years; and (b) whether his Ministry monitors the terms and conditions of employment contracts to ensure compliance with the Employment Act.

Dr Ng Eng Hen: According to the most recently published Labour Force Survey (in June 2006), 5.8% or 85,400 of all resident employees in Singapore were on contracts of less than a year. This is an increase from 4.9% in 2004. The majority of such workers were in lower skilled jobs such as cleaning and labouring, sales and service, as well as clerical work. Nonetheless, 16%, or 13,700, were Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians, or PMETs.

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MOM works closely with the unions and employers to ensure that employment laws are complied with. Our laws confer the same level of rights for workers and impose the same level of obligations on employers irrespective of the length of the employment contract. Each year, MOM successfully handles about 3,700 claims of non-compliance of the Employment Act by employers.

MOM also initiates targeted enforcement in industry sectors where employment standards are detected to be falling. For example, MOM has successfully worked with the private security industry and unions to ensure that employment laws such as over-time payment are complied with. There had also been several cases where workers hired by an outsourcing company were not paid their CPF contributions. MOM intervened by raising the matter to the client company, and the issue was successfully resolved.

While MOM will continue to adopt a conciliation-based approach to resolve these matters, it will also prosecute errant employers for persistent non-compliance. In November last year, SAM Security Service Pte Ltd and its director were each convicted of 58 charges under the Employment Act for requiring their security guards to work more than 12 hours a day and fined $29,000.

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