Employment of Foreign Manpower Act under review
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SINGAPORE: The Manpower Ministry is reviewing the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, and intends to implement the changes later this year.
The review will cover four key areas aimed at ensuring penalties for breaches are adequate, and that errant employers are held accountable.
In Parliament on Monday, Minister of State Tan Chuan-Jin said explicit provisions will be created to define major contraventions, instead of prosecuting them as part of other, less serious offences under the act.
These include the collection of kickbacks from foreign workers, the use of local "phantom workers" by employers to artificially boost their foreign worker quota, as well as the submission of fake qualifications.
The penalties will also be increased. Currently, maximum penalties for breaching work permit conditions are a S$5,000 fine and/or six months in jail. Mr Tan noted that these "do not adequately reflect the egregious nature of such acts", but did not specify the range of penalties being considered.
Third, authorities are looking into a new mechanism to complement criminal prosecution, to allow them to react quickly to regulatory contraventions.
Finally, the ministry will expand its powers of investigation to deal with increasingly complex syndicate operations. The proposed powers will be benchmarked to those provided under the Workplace Safety and Health Act and the Employment Agencies Act.
A public consultation exercise on the proposals will be held later this month.
Separately, the ministry is also reviewing the work pass conditions within the Employment of Foreign Manpower Regulations, to better clarify the responsibilities of employers, foreign workers and foreign domestic workers.
Mr Tan said our foreign labour force needs to be treated decently, particularly to ensure that employment rights are upheld and that workers are not subject to exploitative conditions.
As foreign workers play an important role in building our infrastructure and caring for our families, they should be treated in a manner that reflects our Singaporean values of fairness and respect for all workers.
He added that by and large, employers in Singapore are found to be responsible, and the majority of some 3,000 foreign workers surveyed said they are generally satisfied with their working conditions and intend to extend their contracts after they expire.
But Mr Tan said while the ministry will be tough on errant employers, not all cases are surfaced early enough. To prevent employers from mistreating workers, he said workers, the public and civic groups should help raise the matter to authorities as soon as possible.
-CNA/ac -
its not the act the law - it sthe micro- managing on the floor, how ifficers execute it. haiz - they just can;'t get it in their heads
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Public consultation regarding inflating the salary to get Employment pass is absurd. It is for MOM to check the details before they grant the pass. There are some waiters in restaurant who has EP - P1 pass.
MOM is giving approval based on the story created by the employer and a stack of documents that has been made up. This loophole is well known to all employers, employment agencies and for sure the MOM.
The waiter got away, similarly there are large group who are quite happy they got this status instead of a S pass or work permit.
It is for the MOM to put in place a better system and it will not help in any way by 'sweeping it under the carpet' by having a public consultation.
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2 new posters posting out of the blue.
Life is surreal.
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i applaud the uplifting of the foreign workers conditions...but the Act should also consider stepping up counter security measures against foreigns for criminal offences....particularly for the safety of our women here...but as well as some stringent measures and education to control maids from involving sexually with foreign workers... separately, govt should consider subsidies to domestic employers to encourage regular health checks for maids ...such benefits ensure us a healthy working environment for both employers and maids...
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Policies should be reviewed every year.