No plans to increase maximum fine for employers who illegally deploy foreign domestic workers

Various parties are being consulted over the review of the guidelines.

Sulaiman Daud | October 15, 2020, 01:30 PM

The current financial penalty for employers who illegally deploy their foreign workers is capped at S$10,000.

However, according to Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang, the eventual penalty takes into account the severity of the offence, and the number of times it took place.

Therefore, the final penalty can be higher.

Gan, responding in Parliament to a question from Member of Parliament Louis Ng, said: "Between 2017 and 2019, 16 employers were issued with financial penalties each year, ranging from S$3,300 to S$24,000."

She added that the number of such cases have remained "relatively stable" over the past few years, so there are no plans to review the maximum penalty at the moment.

Guidelines under review

However, MOM is reviewing the guidelines to see if "some cases currently resolved with a warning" should be subjected to a financial penalty in the future.

This was already stated previously in the House by Gan.

Gan added: "This is so that employers will take their responsibility towards their foreign domestic workers seriously."

In a follow-up question, Ng asked about the length of the review, and whether NGOs would be consulted during the process.

Gan replied that MOM is in the process of consulting various parties, like employers and centres that "take care" of foreign domestic workers.

She also said that MOM welcomes the views of organisations that may want to provide input.

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Top image from CNA's YouTube channel.