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Employers must abide by fair employment guidelines or risk facing enforcement, Dr Tan See Leng reminds

Employers must abide by fair employment guidelines or risk facing enforcement, Dr Tan See Leng reminds

Employers found to have hired a foreigner without considering similarly qualified local candidates, or shortlisted candidates for reasons that are not related to job requirements, are in breach of TAFEP's fair employment practices.

Singapore's Minister for Manpower Dr. Tan See Leng has affirmed that the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) looks into all reports of workplace discrimination.

Sharing an example, he said employers found to have hired a foreigner without considering similarly qualified local candidates, or shortlisted candidates for reasons that are not related to job requirements such as age or race, are "clearly in breach" of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP).

In such cases, TAFEP would refer these employers to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for further investigation and enforcement action to be taken, including suspension of work pass privileges.

Minister Tan was responding to a Parliamentary question on Monday (3 October 2022), on how TAFEP defines ‘discrimination’ for the purposes of its investigations and referrals to MOM for enforcement actions to be carried out.

In that vein, the minister has reminded employers to abide by the principles of fair employment practices set out in the TGFEP.

These include recruiting employees on the basis of merit – such as skills, experience, or ability to perform the job, and rewarding employees fairly based on their ability, performance, contribution, and experience. As such, recruitment, in-employment promotion and rewards, and dismissals based on factors that are not relevant to the job requirements are breaches of the TGFEP.

"When workplace fairness legislation is enacted, the offences on discrimination will be made clear, for which a wider range of enforcement actions can be taken against offending employers," Minister Tan reinforced.

ALSO READ: Singapore's foreign worker policies: Manpower Minister tackles Parliamentary questions


Image / Shutterstock

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