Employment Act Part 1

During vacation period, many undergraduates are working part-time to earn extra income, however, many of them do not know their rights as stated in the employment act. Several incidents happened to people close to me and that prompted me to share my knowledge which was acquired last semester after taking SSB1204 Labour Law in Singapore.

First thing first, since we are talking about employment act, we will have to identify who is an employee and who is an employer with tests. The current test in place will be what I called the '15 factors' test. The following will be example of the factors that are considered in the test.

Assuming A requires service from B.

1) Is payment of salary from A to B? If it is, then it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
2) Can A control over what B do? If A can, then it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
3) If B needs time off from work, do he need to inform A? If he does, then it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
4) Is equipment provided by A? If so, then it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
5) Do B wear the uniform of A's company? If so, it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
6) Does the contract stipulate working hours? If so, it is more likely that B is an employee of A.
7) Does A has the rights to dismiss B? If so, it is more likely that B is an employee of A.

The 7 factors listed above are just examples of the factors considered to establish if one is an employee of A or just an independent contractor who is given a contract for service.

Upon establishing if he is an employee or not, we will be able to see if the Employment Act will be valid. The Employment Act covers everyone except for:

1) Government workers
2) Statutory Board workers
3) Domestic Workers (Gardener, Part-Time house cleaners)
4) Any person employed in managerial, executive or confidential postitions

***IMPT!! If the Employment Act does cover the employee, it does not matter if the employee is FOREIGNER or PART-TIME worker. [Part-Time workers are those who work for less than 30 hours a week as stated in the Employment Act Chapter 91, Part 6A, 66A. Those who work for more than 30 hours a week will be considered as full-time worker.]

To read about what the Employment Act states, log in to http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ and search for Employment Act.

For the Employment Act, there is a part which covers only specific categories of people and it is Part IV of the Employment Act. It covers only employees who earn less than $1600/mth or manual workers. This part of the Employment Act clearly states the entitlement of those who falls in this category. I will cover in detail what Part IV states in great details in my next Employment Act entry.

Time to sleep. Have a good day pal. =D