MOM to clamp down on employers’ abuse of salary vouchers

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) plans to clamp down on employers who abuse salary vouchers — such as by having employees indicate receipt of their wages before they are paid — stressing that the errant practice results in “ambiguity and is not in the interest of workers”.

In response to TODAY’s queries, the MOM said that between January and October this year, there were about 150 cases that involved disputes over salary vouchers as proof of payment.

These formed 2 per cent of salary-related disputes. Half the claims were found to be valid after mediation or investigation, and employers “settled the claims with payment”, its spokesperson said.

“In the remaining half of these cases, there was no strong evidence to substantiate the workers’ claims,” the spokesperson said, adding that such cases may be referred to the Employment Claims Tribunals for adjudication.

The issue cropped up in Parliament last week, as Singapore’s main labour law was amended to cover all employees except public servants, foreign domestic workers and seafarers, who are protected under industry-specific legislation.

Under the changes to the Employment Act — which kick in on April 1 next year — the manpower minister may devise regulations to safeguard workers from employment practices that could affect their well-being adversely.

Plans are afoot to make it a civil contravention for firms to ask employees to indicate receipt of salaries before they are paid, or to sign blank or inaccurate receipts, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo told the House.

Unlike criminal offences, civil contraventions allow less severe breaches to be treated as non-criminal infringements that carry a financial penalty.

The MOM said that workers typically do not approach the ministry to lodge complaints about being made to sign blank salary vouchers.  However, when salary-related disputes arise, workers may raise the issue when employers produce salary vouchers as proof of payment at mediation.

“Employers should not ask their workers to pre-sign blank salary vouchers or make them sign on salary vouchers with written amounts that do not match actual payments,” the MOM cautioned.

TODAY understands that while the proportion of employers using salary vouchers is very small, there has been feedback about such practices in the construction sector, for example. There are others in casual work arrangements, such as hawker assistants, who could be affected.

In May this year, TODAY reported on the case of Mr Faruk Oman, a 34-year-old construction industry worker who claimed that he was paid only a fraction of his promised S$1,600 monthly wage by contracting firm Nihal Enterprise.

He said he was made to sign blank salary vouchers in December last year and January this year, which meant that his work — which involved cleaning, excavation and equipment repairs — went unpaid.

He was among 48 foreign workers who had lodged complaints against Nihal Enterprise and Nihal Construction, both held by parent company Nihal Group, between January and April this year for defaulting on their salaries.

The ministry’s investigation later found that there was no strong evidence to support the workers’ claims that they were made to sign blank salary vouchers. TODAY understands that the employees’ salary-related claims were settled privately with the firm.

The MOM advised workers who face issues with salary vouchers to report them to the ministry immediately.