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SINGAPORE – Local radio DJ Daniel Ong Ming Yu and former model Jaime Teo Chai Lin were taken to court on Tuesday (December 29) for crimes under the Foreign Labor Employment Act linked to the Twelve pastry chain. Cupcakes, which they founded.
Each faces 24 charges.
Earlier this month, the firm pleaded guilty to 15 counts of paying employees less in 2017 and 2018, a crime under the Foreign Labor Employment Act.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda will consider fourteen other similar charges during sentencing, which is expected to take place on January 7 next year.
Twelve Cupcakes was founded by Ong and Teo, now his ex-wife, in 2011. It was acquired for $ 2.5 million by Calcutta-based Dhunseri Group in 2016.
Court documents establish that all seven employees were S-Pass holders at the time of the crimes. It is not stated whether they are still working for the company.
While their fixed monthly salaries ranged from $ 2,200 to $ 2,600, the company paid them between $ 1,400 and $ 2,050.
The court heard that Twelve Cupcakes underpaid six of the employees, who were in customer service and sales roles, their salaries from December 2016 to September 2018.
One of these six workers was also underpaid from the October and November 2018 wages.
The company also paid less than the fixed monthly salary from January 2017 to September 2018 due to the remaining employee, a pastry chef.
Court documents establish that Twelve Cupcakes had initially credited the reduced wages to employees’ bank accounts.
But then they changed tack, paying the workers their full salary from May 2018 onwards, but then told the employees that they had to return some of it to the company in cash.
Twelve Cupcakes had done it to hide a paper trail of their crimes, Labor Ministry prosecutor Maximilian Chew said, urging the court to impose a $ 127,000 fine.
He said Twelve Cupcakes would have continued to pay employees less if the crimes had not been discovered.
The prosecutor also said that Singapore relies heavily on foreign employees in many sectors, including the food and beverage industry.
Thus, there is a “huge public interest” in holding companies accountable for their well-being, including paying their wages in full and on time, he added.
The case involving Ong was postponed until January 26.
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