Despite hauling employer to labour court, migrant worker unable to retrieve unpaid wages

Let's treat migrant construction workers like Islam better.

Jeanette Tan | January 19, 2017, 06:01 PM

Bangladeshi construction worker Islam Rafiqul is 42 years old, and has been working in Singapore since 1998.

Over the years, he sent money home to his wife and two children, one of whom is five and the other, 10.

Until October 2015, when his employer started paying him less than his full entitlement.

This continued until June 2016, when Islam stopped receiving salary payments from his employer altogether. Despite this, Islam continued working till he was owed a total of $7,363.

That's when he finally gave up and went to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), who tried mediating between him and his employer, Md Shamsuzzaman, in September and October. Through the mediation sessions, Shamsuzzaman said he would pay Islam what he was owed, but didn't in the end.

The case was then referred to the Labour Court, which held a closed-door hearing on December 29, according to The Straits Times. The Court ruled in Islam's favour, and Shamsuzzaman was ordered to pay Islam by January 12.

Surprise, surprise, the day came and went, and no money was paid. And here's where Islam's problems got worse: the court has no way of making Shamsuzzaman pay Islam.

Islam's recommended recourse was to fork out more than $1,000 to pay for a court bailiff to seize his employer's assets, and an auctioneer to sell them off for cash, to obtain the sum owed to him.

The reason given for this recourse is, according to MOM, because salary recovery matters are civil claims.

So more than a year on from when his salary troubles first began, Islam is still left without his rightful payment.

To make matters worse, he's been stranded here for the past several months on a special pass that bars him from working.

And to top everything off, he now has to fork out an extra $1,000 plus to recover whatever little his employer's assets will fetch from auction.

His employer also has payment troubles, though.

The Straits Times also reported that Shamsuzzaman was not able to pay Islam's salary because he himself was owed $100,000 by another contractor, for work he had done.

Islam is still hoping to retrieve his unpaid salary, though — and the folks at GIVE.Asia have started a fundraising campaign for him for free:

Screenshot from TWC2's Facebook post Screenshot from TWC2's Facebook post

You can click on the image below to go to the donation site:

Click image to go to fundraising page Click image to go to fundraising page

 

Non-governmental organisation Transient Workers Count Too has been assisting Islam with his case since September last year, which you can read more about here:

H/T: The good guys at The Straits Times

Top image: Mothership.sg file photo

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