Scheme proposed for retrenched workers to receive payouts in Singapore

The Worker’s Party (WP) has proposed a Redundancy Insurance (RI) scheme which aims to ease the financial pressure of retrenched workers in Singapore. Released on 12 December, the scheme calls for monthly contributions of 0.1% of monthly salary shared between employers and employees. If a worker is retrenched, the scheme will provide a payout of 40% of a worker’s last drawn salary for up to six months (up to a monthly cap of 40% of the prevailing median wage).

The RI scheme will offer some degree of flexibility so workers may choose how they wish to receive the payouts. For some, they may have adequate savings to tide over the initial period of unemployment. They may choose to defer their RI payouts to a slightly later time to better prepare should their unemployment prolong. The scheme will have provisions so workers will have options as to how and when to receive the payouts.

The RI scheme will also provide top-ups to lower-income workers earning less than $1,000 a month. Workers who earned less than $500 a month before they were made redundant will receive RI payouts equivalent to their previous monthly salary while worker who earned between $500 and $1,000 per month before they were made redundant will receive a top-up of $200 to their original RI payout.

Table / Worker's Party

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