A total of 65 complaints have been made over the past three years to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) on the hiring of foreigners in financial institutions.
Responding to Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Biow Chuan in a Written Reply, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo added that most of these cases did not provide specific information for follow-up action.
But for cases with specific information, investigations were carried out by both MOM and TAFEP, resulting in actions such as the withholding of work pass privileges.
Over 80 per cent of jobs paying at least S$3,600 are held by locals
Teo further highlighted that more than four in five jobs in the financial sector paying at least S$3,600, the minimum qualifying salary for an employment pass, were held by locals.
It is also a ratio that has held steady over the past three years, despite the sector's growing workforce.
MOM has raised the penalties against all forms of workplace discrimination
Teo then added that MOM had since raised its penalties against all forms of workplace discrimination, announced in Jan. 2020.
She further noted that apart from complaints, the Ministry had also enhanced its detection of unfair hiring behaviour through data analytics.
Here, Teo stated that while most financial institutions and hiring managers understood the need to hire based on merit, there were still a handful of employees who sought to circumvent regulations.
She added,"Beyond the employers, MOM will also take individual employees to task if they were involved in any unfair hiring practices."
In urging the public to report instances of workplace discrimination, Teo called for specific information to be provided, and said that the identity of whistleblowers would be kept confidential.
Top image screenshot from CNA