Changes to Employment Act to take effect

SINGAPORE — From today (April 1), managers and executives earning a basic monthly salary of up to S$4,500 will get legislative protection against unfair dismissal and sick leave benefits.

The extended provisions under the Employment Act (EA) are among the key changes approved by Parliament last November, and come into effect today.

Other changes include raising the salary threshold for non-workmen, such as clerical staff and frontline service staff, to get overtime pay. The salary threshold will be raised from a basic monthly salary of S$2,000 to S$2,500.

The overtime rate payable for non-workmen will be capped at the salary level of S$2,250 to help employers manage costs.

To help companies comply with the EA changes, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), together with its tripartite partners, and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and SPRING Singapore, have prepared various forms of assistance to raise public awareness about the EA changes.

Employers may refer to the guidebook on “Changes to the Employment Act 2014” or sign up for seminars and workshops conducted by partners and other training providers.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that need more hands-on guidance can seek one-to-one assistance from the SME Centres supported by SPRING.

MOM has also announced that issuance of itemised pay slips will be mandatory by 2016.

A set of Tripartite Guidelines was issued on Jan 13 as a first step to encourage employers to adopt the progressive workplace practice.

MOM said employers can also tap on a range of different tools based on their needs, such as hard copy pay slip templates from free pay slip template booklets at the SME Centres, and pay slip software which can be downloaded from the MOM website from April 20. CHANNEL NEWSASIA