Enforcement of Restrictions on Work Pass Holders Working for More Than One Employer

12 Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how does the Ministry enforce the restrictions on work pass holders carrying on work outside of the designated employer; (b) over the last five years, what is the annual number of cases of work pass holders found to be working for more than one employer at the same time; and (c) what are the penalties for the employer and employee involved.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Minister for Manpower): Madam, under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) work pass holders are only allowed to work for the official employer specified in their work pass card. It is an offence for the work pass holder to perform work for any other person or business entity.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) receives complaints, tip-offs and referrals from members of public as well as other public agencies on possible illegal employment of work pass holders. Based on the information received, MOM will conduct inspections and look into each and every allegation. At the same time, MOM also carries out proactive inspections based on our own analysis and triggers to detect possible illegal employment of work pass holders.

Between 2016 and 2020, MOM issued at least a warning to an average of 160 work pass holders each year who were found to have engaged in illegal employment. All of them were debarred from working in Singapore.

MOM takes a serious view of illegal employment. Work pass holders found to be engaged in illegal employment will face a fine of up to $2,000 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both. [Please refer to "Clarification by Senior Minister of State for Manpower", Official Report, 2 August 2021, Vol 95, Issue 35, Oral Answers to Questions section.]

MOM will also debar them from working in Singapore. Likewise, employers who employ any foreigners without a valid work pass will face a fine of up to $30,000 or imprisonment of up to 12 months, or both. Their work pass privileges will also be suspended.

Mdm Deputy Speaker: Mr Louis Chua.

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Thank you, Mdm Deputy Speaker. I thank the Senior Minister of State for his answer. Just a quick clarification, in terms of the things that are being done to ensure compliance and to enforce that there is no moonlighting involved, I am just wondering how has the approach that the Ministry has taken evolved over the last five years, in terms of improving its processes to ensure that these cases are being picked up. A lot of them would be part-time in nature without necessarily any documentation involved.

A very recent example would be the KTV cluster where a number of them would have committed offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Madam, as I said in my main reply, beyond the public tip-offs and complaints by perhaps a competing company, for example, we also conduct our own proactive data analytics to see if there are suspicious behaviour that we ought to take proactive action to verify and check. Beyond that, part of the work also involves educational efforts to make sure that foreign workers working in Singapore understand what constitutes illegal employment or violation of their work permit kind of conditions.

So, first, when we give an in-principle approval to the work pass applicants prior to their departure for Singapore, that letter states quite clearly that the work pass applicant can only work for the specified employer in that letter. Engagement and education of the migrant workers are done through several other initiatives and platforms. For example, the mobile app, FWMOMCare, where MOM pushes out employment-related messages through the app. So, it really is to help foreign workers themselves know what is illegal and wrong.

There is also the mandatory Settling-in Programme for first-time work permit holders, which educates the migrant workers on their responsibilities and employment rights as well as the laws and regulations for working in Singapore.

Prior to COVID-19, we did conduct a lot of road shows as well, at dormitories, at recreation centres, in public areas, where MOM would engage these work pass holders on their rights and responsibilities.

Of course, in the present day, we utilise a lot of social media platforms and the online medium to educate and raise awareness. And if we do have enforcement actions being taken, especially against companies who were egregious, we do publicise them on the mainstream media as well as online social media platforms because this raises awareness and serve as a deterrence to other would-be offenders – whether it is employers or employees.