SALARY CLAIMS
One such employee who successfully retrieved his pay was a driver who preferred to be known as Jason Tan.
Months after he resigned, Mr Tan was still owed S$1,800 in outstanding salary. His employer ignored his repeated attempts to recover his wages.
“I felt very helpless, it was painful. I needed the money for my living expenses. (They) held my salary for so long. That should not have happened. Us workers, what do we work for? To live. This money will help my family survive,” he said in Mandarin.
Mr Tan was among 6,000 others who sought help from TADM last year, which is jointly set up by tripartite partners MOM, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).
“I made an appointment with TADM and told them everything. They said they can help me resolve this problem. They emailed and called my former boss, and told him to return the money he owes me,” he said.
After nearly two months, Mr Tan managed to recover his salary.
MOM said mediation is the most effective solution in resolving such cases.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING MEDIATION?
Mediators handling a claim will speak to both the employer and employee involved. They assess evidence such as employment contracts, salary slips, attendance records and CPF statements.
Correspondence between parties involved, such as phone messages and emails, are also helpful to mediators in verifying claims.
“As mediators, we are a neutral party, we don’t take sides, whether it is the worker or the employer. Our role is to guide both parties to work towards a common goal, to resolve their dispute effectively and fairly,” Ms Faye Kee, a senior mediator at TADM, told CNA’s Singapore Tonight.
If both parties agree to settle a claim after talks, they will sign a legally-binding agreement.
If the initial mediation at TADM fails, the alliance will help claimants lodge their claims with the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT).
“We understand that at the ECT, they may try another round of mediation. If that’s not successful, the case will be heard by an ECT judge and there will be a decision made on the claim,” said TADM’s general manager Ng Hwei Min.
“In some cases, there are employers who are very willful, they have the means to pay but they refuse to do so. But of course, these are not in very large numbers – they make up less than 1 per cent of the claims that we see.”
MOM said it investigates such employers, with a view of taking enforcement action against them.