SINGAPORE — Red Crowns Senior Living has been fined after the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) found that the company had engaged in illegal employment practices.

The assisted co-living agency had circumvented local requirements on foreign worker levies, MOM said in a Facebook post on Monday (April 1).

Red Crowns also placed legal responsibilities on their elderly clients, who employed migrant domestic workers but did not have control over their work and welfare, MOM added.

"The company and its directors have been issued composition fines for offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act," the ministry said, without mentioning the exact amount fined.

A composition fine can be used to settle an offence that has been compounded, which means that no further action will be taken against the offender. The Employment of Foreign Manpower Act states that offences under the Act can be compounded by accepting a sum not exceeding S$5,000 or half of the maximum fine for the offence, whichever is lower.

According to MOM's website, the penalty for contravening any condition of a work pass or contravening any regulatory condition of a work pass is S$10,000.

MOM said that Red Crowns has since corrected its operating model while continuing to care for existing clients.

"Nonetheless, they remained liable for the offences committed under its previous illegal operating model," MOM said on Monday.

CNA has contacted MOM and Red Crowns to ask how the company has corrected its operating model while still complying with foreign worker quotas.

In June last year, MOM said it was investigating Red Crowns and had "serious concerns" about the firm's operating model. 

Red Crowns operates facilities where a group of seniors can live in a public flat or private condominium together with a live-in caregiver.

Red Crowns' senior clients were the registered employers of migrant domestic workers who cared for them, but the company controlled the workers' key employment terms and deployment.

This subjected the elderly clients to unnecessary risks, MOM had said.

Employers of migrant domestic workers are responsible for the workers' food, safety, medical care, job scope, accommodation and more.

Red Crowns' clients would be held legally responsible if the migrant domestic workers sustained work-related injuries, failed to receive timely salary payments or were not provided sufficient rest.

MOM had said that some of the employers were unaware of their liabilities.

Red Crowns' founder Joshua Goh previously told CNA that it could not hire staff under the S Pass or work permit because it does not have enough staff who are citizens or permanent residents. 

"For example, at the moment, there are 60 over caregivers among our 33 homes. They are all foreigners, but we don't have so many Singaporean staff to hire so many of them," he said last year.

Red Crowns is part of a government pilot project to explore new models of care for Singapore's ageing population. CNA