S'pore air-con firm that didn't pay migrant workers has 'history of not paying workers properly': TWC2

KPA Engineering, the Singapore air-conditioning contractor accused of not paying their migrant workers, reportedly had a "history" of failing to pay its workers properly.

Nonprofit organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) said in a Jun. 25 Facebook post that it had first raised the alarm last year.

"Across 2025 and 2026, TWC2 helped six workers with salary issues from this company," the organisation said.

It also questioned "why things were allowed to reach this point".

Since March 2025

On Jun. 22, over 100 migrant workers approached the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Services Centre in Bendemeer.

They were seeking help regarding their outstanding salary payments and housing arrangements.

It was later reported that over 400 migrant workers in total had filed claims over unpaid wages.

One of the firms implicated in the episode was KPA Engineering.

Bad history

While it was only in June that the matter was publicly reported, TWC2 told Mothership that the company appeared to be facing "cashflow problems and difficulty paying salary" as early as March 2025.

In that first case, the worker told TWC2 that he was owed a month's salary.

Then in May 2025, another worker, who was employed as an assistant supervisor, approached TWC2.

He claimed that he had not been paid properly since January 2025, and was owed around S$3,000.

Yet another case emerged in June 2025 — this time with a construction worker, who complained that he was owed S$4,500.

In October 2025 and June 2026, three more workers approached TWC2. Two of them were owed three months of unpaid salary.

A week after the last complaint, news of the workers approaching the MOM Services Centre en masse broke.

Issues claiming

TWC2 said that they helped the affected workers with salary claims and food assistance, to varying results.

For the case in May 2025, the nonprofit helped the worker lodge a claim with TADM.  The employer settled the matter with the worker, and allegedly even promised him a raise to not pursue the matter further.

But in April 2026, he came back to TADM, saying that he was once again facing payment issues.

Screenshots of the submissions, viewed by Mothership, showed two separate claims for S$2,945.95 and S$2,437.76 respectively.

In the June 2025 case, TWC2 similarly helped lodge a report, for S$4,458.28 in unpaid salary.

But the employer initially refused to settle.

"The employer subsequently paid up, but not the full amount he was owed," the spokesperson said.

TWC2 said that this is common in migrant worker disputes. Affected workers, who are "desperate and under pressure", may end up "settling for far less" as they believe some income is better than none.

"But it is not fair to the workers, because the employers are effectively benefitting from a 'discount' when they are the ones who have defaulted in their payment in the first place," TWC2 said.

Such partial settlements are also not differentiated from full settlements in TADM's statistics, the nonprofit said.

Culture of fear

In its Facebook post, TWC2 called for a "centralised wage protection scheme" that allows the authorities to automatically detect when employers fail to pay their workers on time.

This is because many workers are reluctant to lodge salary claims, for fear of losing their jobs, or facing retaliation from employers.

Even when they do raise a claim, there is "no guarantee they will receive their owed salary in the end", particularly if mediation fails and they have to go to court.

"The burden of wage theft should not fall on workers who have to struggle to prove their claims – often while navigating debt, family obligations, and a foreign environment," said TWC2.

The Straits Times previously reported that KPA Engineering had faced signs of financial woes as early as 2023 and 2024, when HSBC and DBS both filed charges against the firm.

HSBC had alleged unpaid debts, while DBS had filed two charges with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) against the firm, to secure all moneys.

The firm apparently still has not paid DBS.

Director's passport impounded

Following the episode, MOM said it has been providing the workers with the necessary assistance, together with TADM.

The ministry is investigating the companies for breaches of employment laws, and has begun placing the affected workers in new jobs.

In the meantime, the director of the firm — a Singapore permanent resident and Indian national who was believed to have fled the country — is back in Singapore and has had his passport impounded.

Ramu Palani Velu, who is the director of the three Singapore companies accused of migrant worker abandonment and four others besides, is assisting with investigations, according to Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash.