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A CLEANER from Qingdao in north-east China, embroiled in a pay dispute here, refused to be sent home until her employer made good the salary she was owed.
She managed to recover some money with the help of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and non-governmental organisation Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
But her former boss exacted his revenge by buying her an air ticket that took her only as far as Haikou on Hainan Island in southern China.
Home executive director Jolovan Wham said: 'She didn't know where Haikou was.'
It took another intervention by MOM for the woman to be put on a flight to Beijing.
Under changes to take effect tomorrow on existing and new work passes granted, rogue employers will be given no room to wriggle out of their legal obligations. Some work-pass conditions will be updated to clarify existing rules, making them more watertight.
The rules govern the employment of an estimated 1.1 million foreign workers here on work permits, S-Passes and employment passes.
For example, what had happened to the woman from Qingdao is unlikely to be repeated: One current condition for the granting of work permits requires employers to repatriate workers whose work permits have been cancelled. No mention is made of the destination.
Under the amended rules, repatriation must be to 'the international port of entry that affords reasonable access to the foreign employee's hometown within the foreign employee's home country'; a new option makes it clear that workers can also be repatriated to destinations of their choice.
The MOM said: 'These changes will provide more clarity and certainty to employers on their legal obligations, and provide work-pass holders with a clearer understanding of their employment rights and responsibilities.'
The maximum penalty for breaching a work-pass condition is a one-year jail term and $5,000 fine.
The amendments come ahead of the revised Employment Agencies Act, which is expected to weed out malpractices in the employment of foreign workers when it is implemented in April.
Other notable changes include a definition of 'ill treatment' of maids.
Ill treatment includes the employer or anyone else subjecting the maid to physical or sexual abuse, criminal intimidation, abandonment and neglect - in other words, any 'act detrimental to the welfare' of the worker, which encompasses mental or emotional abuse.
Another change clarifies that workers must be paid even if no work has been assigned. In the case of maids, this means employers cannot claim ignorance of their obligation to pay the maid if the entire family goes on holiday.
Employment agencies and foreign-worker help groups said the revisions dispel outstanding ambiguity on the role of employers and avert potential disputes over the interpretation of the fine print.
Ms Shirley Ng, who heads the Association of Employment Agencies, said there had been cases where employers went on long holidays, left their maids alone at home, and later claimed they did not need to pay the maids' salaries since there was no work to be done.
She added that defining 'ill treatment' was also helpful because the public mostly views ill treatment as physical or sexual abuse.
Mr Wham said: 'Officers will now have a clearer guide when they carry out enforcement, and employers are also clearer about their responsibilities.'
For more information, employers and employment agencies may visit the MOM's website at www.mom.gov.sg
[email protected]
BENEFITS
'These changes will provide more clarity and certainty to employers on their legal obligations, and provide work-pass holders with a clearer understanding of their employment rights and responsibilities.'
The Ministry of Manpower
She managed to recover some money with the help of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and non-governmental organisation Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
But her former boss exacted his revenge by buying her an air ticket that took her only as far as Haikou on Hainan Island in southern China.
Home executive director Jolovan Wham said: 'She didn't know where Haikou was.'
It took another intervention by MOM for the woman to be put on a flight to Beijing.
Under changes to take effect tomorrow on existing and new work passes granted, rogue employers will be given no room to wriggle out of their legal obligations. Some work-pass conditions will be updated to clarify existing rules, making them more watertight.
The rules govern the employment of an estimated 1.1 million foreign workers here on work permits, S-Passes and employment passes.
For example, what had happened to the woman from Qingdao is unlikely to be repeated: One current condition for the granting of work permits requires employers to repatriate workers whose work permits have been cancelled. No mention is made of the destination.
Under the amended rules, repatriation must be to 'the international port of entry that affords reasonable access to the foreign employee's hometown within the foreign employee's home country'; a new option makes it clear that workers can also be repatriated to destinations of their choice.
The MOM said: 'These changes will provide more clarity and certainty to employers on their legal obligations, and provide work-pass holders with a clearer understanding of their employment rights and responsibilities.'
The maximum penalty for breaching a work-pass condition is a one-year jail term and $5,000 fine.
The amendments come ahead of the revised Employment Agencies Act, which is expected to weed out malpractices in the employment of foreign workers when it is implemented in April.
Other notable changes include a definition of 'ill treatment' of maids.
Ill treatment includes the employer or anyone else subjecting the maid to physical or sexual abuse, criminal intimidation, abandonment and neglect - in other words, any 'act detrimental to the welfare' of the worker, which encompasses mental or emotional abuse.
Another change clarifies that workers must be paid even if no work has been assigned. In the case of maids, this means employers cannot claim ignorance of their obligation to pay the maid if the entire family goes on holiday.
Employment agencies and foreign-worker help groups said the revisions dispel outstanding ambiguity on the role of employers and avert potential disputes over the interpretation of the fine print.
Ms Shirley Ng, who heads the Association of Employment Agencies, said there had been cases where employers went on long holidays, left their maids alone at home, and later claimed they did not need to pay the maids' salaries since there was no work to be done.
She added that defining 'ill treatment' was also helpful because the public mostly views ill treatment as physical or sexual abuse.
Mr Wham said: 'Officers will now have a clearer guide when they carry out enforcement, and employers are also clearer about their responsibilities.'
For more information, employers and employment agencies may visit the MOM's website at www.mom.gov.sg
[email protected]
BENEFITS
'These changes will provide more clarity and certainty to employers on their legal obligations, and provide work-pass holders with a clearer understanding of their employment rights and responsibilities.'
The Ministry of Manpower
