SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Azmul Haque, Ashley Chew, Hu Yutong and Aaron Leong, Collyer Law LLC
and the Singapore National Employers Federation, through which guidelines and advisories are issued to supplement the law. Tripartite guidelines and advi - sories are not primary legislation, but are important in practice and may be considered by regulators when assessing matters such as fair employment practices, flexible work requests and retrenchment exercises. The Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management and the Employment Claims Tribunals were set up in 2017 to provide an efficient, cost-effective avenue for resolving salary and wrongful dismissal claims. They were jointly established by the tripartite partners. 4.2 Characteristics of Employment Contracts Specific Requirements and Statutory Minimums The EA recognises both written and oral contracts, but written terms are strongly recommended. Employers must issue written key employment terms to employees who are employed for at least 14 con - tinuous days, no later than 14 days after the day that the employee starts employment with the employer. Such terms must cover matters such as job title, main duties and responsibilities, start date, salary, work - ing arrangements, leave entitlements, notice period, probation period, place of work, bonus or incentives, and other medical benefits. Under the EA, employers must issue itemised pay slips either with the salary payment or within three working days after the salary payment is made. For termination or dismissal, the pay slip must be issued on the last salary period preceding the end of employ - ment or on the employee’s last day of employment with the employer. An employment contract shall not contain terms that are less favourable to the employee than those pre - scribed by the EA; any such term is illegal and void to the extent that it is less favourable. The employer is not restricted from granting more favourable terms to the employee. Duration Singapore law does not require employment contracts to be indefinite. Employment may be open-ended or
fixed-term, provided the arrangement is genuine and consistent with statutory protections. 4.3 Working Time The statutory working time, rest day, overtime and other conditions set out in Part 4 of the EA only apply to workers (doing manual labour) earning not more than SGD4,500 a month and other employees (non- managerial, non-executive) earning not more than SGD2,600 a month. For employees covered by Part 4, the main protec - tions are as follows: • they must not be required under their contract to work more than eight hours a day (and not more than six consecutive hours without a period of break) or 44 hours a week; • overtime must generally be paid at no less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate of pay; • overtime work generally cannot exceed 72 hours a month, unless an exemption applies; • employees are entitled to one rest day each week; and • work on rest days is subject to separate statu - tory payment rules, depending on whether it was requested by the employee or the employer. For employees not covered by Part 4 of the EA, these terms are governed primarily by the employment con - tract, which can be negotiated between the employer and the employee. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts Singapore is not an “employment at will” jurisdiction in the sense understood in some other common law systems. An employment contract may be terminated without cause on notice (or payment in lieu of notice), or for cause. An employer may terminate employment only in accordance with the contract and applicable stat - utes, including the EA. Termination may be by written notice, payment in lieu of notice, expiry of a fixed term, mutual agreement, redundancy or dismissal for cause.
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