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SINGAPORE: Over the past three years, around 50 employers in Singapore have had their job pass privileges suspended due to discriminatory hiring practices.
About 60 percent of these cases each year involved discrimination based on nationality, State Minister for Manpower Gan Siow Huang told parliament on Thursday (March 4).
Another third involved gender and age discrimination, roughly evenly divided between the two, while the remaining cases involved other types of discrimination, such as race, marital status or family responsibilities, he said.
READ: ‘Significant increase’ in companies with work pass privileges suspended due to discriminatory hiring practices
Ms. Gan was responding to a question from Congressman Leon Perera (WP-Aljunied) about the percentage breakdown of cases by type of discrimination.
She said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) takes a serious view of discrimination in the workplace, noting that in the past three years, no repeat offenders have been caught.
Ms. Gan also said that the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) handled an average of 400 discrimination cases a year during the same period, including those arising from MOM’s proactive controls.
READ: 47 Employers Added to Watch List for Suspected Discriminatory Hiring Practices – MOM
Ms. Gan said the ministry will consider releasing these statistics regularly if it helps shape public opinion on the situation on the ground and pushes employers towards fair labor practices.
The percentage of local job applicants who perceived discrimination during their job search process increased between 2014 and 2018, he said.
“MOM will continue to conduct periodic surveys so that we have a good pulse of public opinion on this matter,” he added.
LESS SERIOUS INFRACTIONS
The ministry also issued an average of 40 warnings a year to employers for less serious infractions, such as flaws in human resource practices that resulted in miscommunication and discrimination in the hiring process.
“In these cases, TAFEP will intervene and advise employers on the necessary rectifications,” Ms Gan said.
READ: Naming companies on the watch list for possible discriminatory hiring practices is counterproductive: Josephine Teo
For companies that are unwilling to receive warnings from MOM because they do not hire foreigners, Gan said the Labor Claims Court can order an employer who has made discriminatory layoffs to compensate employees.
Employment agencies that accumulate demerit points for violations may also have their license suspended or revoked.
“We also sue companies for false statements of fair hiring practices, and in the past we have sought legal action against such companies,” Ms. Gan said.
When asked if the sanctions framework will be reviewed given that suspension of work pass privileges does not correspond to crimes involving gender discrimination, for example, Ms Gan said that MOM reviewed the sanctions framework in 2020 and will continue to review it further.
“In fact, after we reviewed the sanctions, we did not see repeated cases of discriminatory practices by companies that were found to be in non-compliance,” he added.
