The Singapore government has released White Paper On Singapore Women’s Development on 28 March 2021, the first whole-of-society review of women’s development. Acting on data collected and analysis of feedback on areas where women still face barriers and challenges, the White Paper sets out 25 collective action plans in five main areas to advance women’s development. Employers should note that the first of these areas concerns providing equal opportunities in the workplace, and will involve: strengthening laws to address unfair and discriminatory employment practices, and developing advisories and guidelines to encourage adoption of flexible work arrangements.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at his recent National Day Rally speech, acknowledged the anxiety felt by middle income Singaporeans over foreign work pass holders, especially with the economic uncertainty heightened by COVID-19.

Addressing what he described as personal and emotional arguments by Singaporeans over perceived foreign competition for jobs and opportunities, the prime minister signaled that the government will introduce new anti-discrimination laws with a range of penalties extending beyond the current administrative penalties, such as restrictions on an employer from hiring foreign workers.

In brief Recognizing that retrenchments may now be inevitable for businesses continuing to be negatively affected by COVID-19, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) (collectively, the Tripartite Partners) have jointly updated the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Excess Manpower…

Both employers and recruiters who place candidates with employers should note that, in the face of difficult labour market conditions arising from COVID-19 and the Circuit Breaker movement restrictions affecting the conduct of business, MOM continues policies to strengthen job opportunities for Singaporeans to ensure the foreign workforce complements, and not substitute, the local workforce. Recognising the significant role played by labour market intermediaries in fair hiring practices, MOM will impose new anti-discrimination obligations for licensed Employment Agencies (EAs) from 1 October 2020. MOM will penalise EAs which fail to uphold fair hiring, and reward those EAs which show their strong commitment to fair recruitment practices and assist employers in strengthening their Singaporean core.

The coronavirus pandemic has created a series of unprecedented challenges for fund sponsors and general partners (collectively, GPs) of closed-ended private funds in relation to the capital raising and operation of their funds. This article analyses some of the key issues for GPs to consider in these turbulent times. Further…

On 10 March 2020, the Minister of Manpower put out a press release stating that a company has been convicted of falsely declaring in its Employment Pass (EP) application that it had considered local candidates fairly, in order to hire a foreigner it had pre-selected for a job position. The…

Read publication In this issue of the Global Immigration and Mobility Quarterly Update: Colombia: Immigration Trends – Changes on the Entry and Permanence Permits in Colombia Italy: A Shortcut for Intra-Corporate Transferee Permits Philippines: PEZA-ZONCR Now Requires Personal Appearances by New Visa Applicants Russia: New Migrations Trends for Russia; Temporary…

Read publication In this issue: Colombia: Colombian government adopts exceptional measure to mitigate the risk of having stateless children Italy: Salvini’s Security Bis Decree obtains final approval Netherlands: Relaxation of Dutch visa and wage tax rules for start-ups Philippines: Bureau of Immigration issues IRR on Special and Provisional Work Permits…

One situation that a non-compete clause seeks to avoid is a former employee joining a direct competitor almost immediately after termination. However, if such a clause prohibits even shareholdings in a competitor, the former employee can seize upon this overreaching effect to void the entire clause for being in unreasonable restraint of trade (even…

When the Employment Act (Amendment) Bill (“EA”) was released in October 2018 (click here to read more), the issue that sparked the most discussion was the ability for an employee to bring wrongful dismissal claims against the employer (i.e., a claim that the dismissal was “without just cause or excuse”). While it was…