Changes to Singapore's Employment Act set to take effect from 1 April 2019

Singapore's Employment (Amendment) Bill 2018 has been passed in Parliament on 20 November 2018, with changes to the Employment Act (EA) and Employment Claims Act (ECA) to take effect from 1 April 2019.

It was read for the second time by Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo in Parliament on Tuesday (20 November), following its introduction in October.

The following are key amendments for employers to take note of:

#1 Core provisions extended to all employees

Core provisions under the Act will now extend to professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). These include the minimum days of annual leave, paid public holiday and sick leave entitlements, as well as other protections such as timely payment of salary and protection against wrongful dismissal.

The three groups of employees who currently enjoy core provisions are:

• All workmen: manual workers or blue-collar workers.
• All non-workmen: rank-and-file white-collar workers.
• Managers and executives (M&Es) with basic monthly salaries up to S$4,500.

With the proportion of PMETs expected to make up two-thirds of Singapore's workforce by 2030, the Government will remove the S$4,500 salary threshold for M&Es.

Minister Teo affirmed: "In doing so, all employees - whether M&Es, workmen or non-workmen - will be covered by core provisions under the Act. This will benefit an additional 430,000 M&Es."

 

Read Minister Teo's full speech here. The Bill will take effect on 1 April 2019 and will extend to all employees, except domestic workers, public officers and seafarers who will continue to be covered by other Acts and regulations due to their nature of work.

Lead photo / iStockGraphics / MOM