The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has removed 186 bicycles and other devices from bicycle parking areas in Yishun, Paya Lebar, Sengkang and other areas since January 2026.

It said in a Jun. 29 Facebook post that it is stepping up checks on indiscriminate bicycle parking and abandoned bicycles around key transport nodes to better manage bicycle parking facilities and free up space for other users.

Its enforcement team will continue to conduct regular checks to manage indiscriminate parking and abandoned bicycles, LTA said.

"Such bicycles will be tagged with a notice, and may be impounded if not removed within the stipulated period," it added.

"With the expanding cycling path network, we’ll also review and expand bicycle parking at key transport nodes to ensure that facilities are sufficient and well-designed to support cyclists' needs."

LTA advised users to park their bicycles responsibly in designated bicycle parking facilities to avoid obstructing pedestrian flow and access to shared public spaces.

A 40-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to five years, seven months and two weeks’ jail and three strokes of the cane after posing as a female agent to receive sexual services.

His victims comprised multiple women, including a 15-year-old, a 19-year-old, and a 22-year-old.

Loh Guang Ze was sentenced on Jun. 30 and pleaded guilty to five out of 10 charges, which include cheating a teenager into providing him sexual services, sexual penetration of a minor and voyeurism.

The other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Locanto

In court documents seen by Mothership, Loh lost attraction to his wife after he saw the birth of their children and came up with a scheme to attain sexual services on Locanto.

Locanto is an online classifieds platform that allows users to list their products, services, and jobs for sale.

He would pose as a female agent on the platform and place a listing for females looking to earn fast cash, ranging from S$3,000 to S$5,000.

Interested persons could contact him for more details.

Loh adopted the persona of an agent “Sherry”, who contacted the victims and informed them about a “sugar daddy” or sexual services arrangement that “Sherry” could help to facilitate.

Victims would then send photos of themselves to Loh, and he would proceed with the females he was attracted to.

Loh received queries from about 30 females and successfully arranged to meet up with nine of them to obtain sexual services.

Blindfold

Within a week of the victims contacting him, Loh would inform each victim that “Sherry” had a “customer” interested in her services.

Loh would tell the victim that the “customer” had asked her to put on a blindfold and was required to show up at the meeting place with it on.

He explained that it was the kink of the "customer", or that this was done for the protection of his identity.

However, this was done to ensure the victims could not identify Loh.

The victims agreed to provide sexual services, which included sexual intercourse, to Loh, who was the “customer”.

They were not allowed to remove their blindfold until Loh left the premises.

Loh would subsequently ignore the victims’ request for payment and block them on messaging applications.

He never intended to pay them for their services.

19-year-old

One of the victims, a 19-year-old at the time of the offence, came across Loh’s advertisement on Locanto and provided her handphone number.

She then received a WhatsApp message from “Sherry”.

At “Sherry”’s request, the victim sent the accused photos of her face and body.

The victim agreed to have sexual intercourse and oral sex with the “customer” in exchange for S$5,000.

On Jan. 1, 2021, the victim headed to a hotel in Chinatown and met up with Loh.

Both of them showered together and had sexual intercourse, while the victim had her blindfold on throughout.

Loh used his phone to record three videos depicting the sexual acts without the victim’s consent.

After they finished, Loh told the victim that he would arrange another session and would pay for both sessions.

However, the second session did not occur, and she was not paid.

22-year-old

A victim, a 22-year-old at the time of the offence, came across Loh’s advertisement and chatted with “Sherry” via Telegram.

Loh told her that she would receive S$5,000 if she had sexual intercourse without a condom with the “customer”.

On Jul. 31, 2021, the victim met Loh at a hotel located at Trengganu Street in an eye mask, as per the instructions.

They engaged in oral sex and sexual intercourse.

Both of them also engaged in another session on Aug. 16, 2021, at an unknown hotel.

Loh recorded the sex acts on both occasions without her consent.

He recorded a total of three videos.

Following this, Loh told the victim that he wanted this relationship with her to be long-term, and he could deal directly and pay her via fund transfer.

When the victim asked “Sherry” for payment, Loh dodged her requests and became unresponsive before blocking her.

15-year-old

A victim, a 15-year-old at the time of the offence, came across Loh’s advertisement and chatted with “Sherry” via an online messaging service.

Loh told her that she would receive S$5,000 if she provided sexual services.

Before meeting, the victim told “Sherry” that she did not want to perform oral sex and did not allow the “customer” to perform an act that could impregnate her.

They both agreed that she would provide three separate sessions of sexual services.

On Aug. 4 2021, the victim met with Loh in her secondary school uniform and a sleeping mask, as per the instructions, in a handicap toilet in Chua Chu Kang.

Loh then requested the victim to perform oral sex, which she reluctantly did.

He also recorded the sex act without her consent.

Following the encounter, the victim contacted “Sherry” to enquire about payment, to which “Sherry” replied that the victim did not meet the requirement of the three sessions.

She then informed “Sherry” that she did not wish to continue with the remaining sessions, as the “customer” did not respect her wishes.

“Sherry” asked the victim several times to continue the agreement with the “customer”, but the victim refused to do so.

Tip

Sometime before July 2023, the police received an anonymous tip from a female stating that an agent on Locanto had cheated her.

She had provided her sexual services to a client, but was not paid after that.

The agent had reportedly given her excuses when she enquired about payment and later blocked her on Locanto.

Loh was arrested on Jul. 3, 2023.

Deplorable

The prosecution sought a sentence of 68 to 75 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane.

They argued that Loh “took great pains to conceal his identity”, including the use of “Sherry” and instructing the victims to wear a blindfold.

They also argued that he had reason to believe that the youngest victim stated was under 16 years old, as she wore her secondary school uniform to meet him.

The prosecution described Loh’s actions as “deplorable”, citing that Loh had “opportunistically taken advantage of multiple young victims, one of whom was only 15 at the time of the offence”.

“A strong deterrent signal must be sent to the accused and all other like-minded persons who would think to commit similar offences,” the prosecution said.

Two men, aged 18 and 39, were arrested for their suspected involvement in a case of loan shark harassment.

On Jun. 28, at about 8:19am, the police were alerted to a case of loan shark harassment at a residential unit along Senja Road.

The unit’s gate was secured with a bicycle lock and a debtor’s note had been affixed to the door.

The note read: “Like to play right no problem! Will play with you! This time just desert, Next time splash u and your neighbour. Whatsapp to settle.”

With the aid of police cameras, officers from Jurong Police Division established both men’s identities.

They were subsequently arrested on Jun. 29 and Jun. 30, respectively.

Preliminary investigations suggest they are involved in other similar cases of loan shark harassment islandwide.

Both men were charged on Jul. 1 under the Moneylenders Act 2008.

First-time offenders are liable to a fine between S$5,000 and S$50,000 with a jail term of up to five years, and caning of up to six strokes.

The police said it has zero tolerance for loan shark harassment, and those who deliberately vandalise properties, cause annoyance and disrupt public safety, peace and security will be dealt with severely in accordance with the law.

Members of the public are advised to stay away from loan sharks and not to work with or assist them in any way.

The public can call the police at "999" if they suspect or know anyone who could be involved in loan-sharking activities.

The former chief of air force was fined S$5,000 and disqualified from driving for five years for driving negligently and colliding with a 44-year-old Indonesian domestic helper pushing a two-year-old boy in a stroller.

Goh Yong Siang, 74, pleaded guilty on Jul. 1 to one of two charges, driving without reasonable consideration, causing grievous hurt, The Straits Times reported.

The other charge, which involved driving without reasonable consideration, causing hurt to the boy, was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Footage

The incident occurred on May 17, 2024.

Goh had failed to keep a proper lookout when he made a right turn at a pedestrian crossing along Pasir Panjang Road towards Telok Blangah Road, at the junction with Harbour Drive.

In dashcam footage from Goh’s car played in court, the domestic helper was reportedly thrown into the air upon impact and landed on the ground.

Her face was bleeding, and the car's windscreen was cracked as a result of the collision.

Both the domestic helper and the boy were conveyed to the National University Hospital.

She reportedly sustained multiple injuries, including a deep facial laceration, a ligament tear and a knee contusion.

The domestic helper was given 42 days of hospitalisation leave.

The boy’s parents declined medical leave on his behalf.

Both of them were apparently crossing the road when the green man signal was on.

The prosecution sought a fine between S$4,000 and S$5,000, noting that while the woman suffered grievous hurt, she is unlikely to suffer any permanent disability.

A 51-year-old Singaporean man fatally ran over his 32-year-old Bangladeshi acquaintance, with whom he had dealt contraband cigarettes.

This was after the Singaporean man believed that he had been implicated following a raid by the Singapore Customs.

The foreigner later died from his injuries after he was repatriated to Bangladesh.

Toh Sze Ee pleaded guilty to using a dangerous weapon to cause grievous hurt on Jun. 29, The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao reported.

Acquaintances

Toh and the victim, Hossen Selim, were acquainted through dealing with contraband cigarettes.

In February 2023, Selim was arrested during a raid by Singapore Customs.

Toh managed to evade arrest.

He reportedly suspected that Selim had provided information to the authorities that implicated him.

He then arranged to meet Selim to confront him.

Confrontation

On Mar. 16, 2023, at about 5pm, Toh drove a rented van along Kaki Bukit Avenue 5, towards Kaki Bukit Road 4.

He had no valid licence to drive a van.

Selim was cycling on the other side of the road, towards Kaki Bukit Road 5.

Toh then made a U-turn, colliding with Selim.

Dashcam footage recorded from a tipper truck and a parked private bus captured the collision.

The van was seen moving away from the left side of the road to avoid colliding with the rear of the parked truck.

Toh later stopped about 40m down the road and alighted to check the front of the van.

Selim sustained serious injuries, including multiple rib fractures, skull fractures and a broken neck.

He later died in Bangladesh in 2025.

Associate

Toh then contacted his associate, Teo Kim Chiew, with whom he also dealt contraband cigarettes.

Toh told him he had knocked down a Bangladeshi at Kaki Bukit Avenue 5.

When Teo arrived at the scene, a passerby had called for an ambulance, which conveyed Selim to Changi General Hospital.

Toh later met Teo in Tampines, telling him that Selim suddenly cycled into his path.

Both men drove separately to an abandoned warehouse in Defu Lane 12 to dispose of the contraband cigarettes in the van.

The vehicle was then abandoned on the road outside the warehouse.

A few days later, Toh also told his girlfriend, who asked about the incident, that Selim had suddenly turned right and he could not brake in time.

Asleep

Toh was initially charged with attempted murder.

However, the prosecution reportedly amended it to one of voluntarily causing hurt using a dangerous weapon or means at the end of the trial.

Toh claimed he was a drug addict and fell asleep behind the wheel due to methamphetamine withdrawal, which the judge rejected.

A psychiatrist also assessed that it was unlikely that Toh had fallen asleep due to fatigue as a withdrawal symptom.

Toh did not meet the diagnostic criteria for stimulant withdrawal on the day of the incident.

The judge also noted that Toh was able to socialise, coordinate contraband cigarette deliveries, utilise a navigation app and complete a U-turn before the collision.

Furthermore, Teo sought to change his account, saying that Toh had mentioned he had fallen asleep behind the wheel.

The judge said Teo just changed his account to help Toh.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused remained in control of the van at the material time, and that he intended for the van to collide into, and run over, the victim.” The judge reportedly said when convicting Teo.

Toh’s sentencing was adjourned to a later date.

When someone says "cruise holiday", I'll admit my brain still defaults to buffet lines, deck chairs and a slightly older crowd.

What it does not picture is me getting put through a Hyrox-style workout by Netflix fitness star Amotti somewhere off the coast of Melaka.

Yes, that Amotti — the winner of Netflix’s Physical 100 Season 2, known for his discipline, dedication to fitness and very intense workouts.

And yet, that is exactly what's happening this July on Dream Cruises’ two-night cruise to Melaka and back.

To mark its 10th anniversary, Dream Cruises is throwing a year-long party at sea called "A Decade of Dreams", so if your idea of a good time involves both chilling at sea and sweating it out, this might be the one to look out for.

Meeting Amotti at sea

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From Jul. 26 to 28, Amotti is coming onboard the two-Night Melaka cruise from Singapore for a series of fitness workshops and a meet-and-greet.

I'll be honest, going on a holiday usually means giving yourself a break from the gym, but who wouldn’t want to challenge themselves doing burpees on the open sea with the guy who makes it all look so easy?

(Also, not going to lie, a bit of eye candy never hurt a holiday.)

The workshops with Amotti are going for S$25 per person on a first-come first-served basis, so this is one to lock in early.

Other sports and wellness activities

It’s not just Amotti to look forward to, however.

The June to August line-up for Dream Cruises — fittingly called Celebrate the Dream — is basically a floating lifestyle festival.

Other things you can look forward to on the cruise during this period include a family-friendly pickleball clinic that's open to all ages and skill levels.

On the wellness front, there are pilates sessions and Wander Flow Yoga — a music-led yoga session that blends movement with mindfulness.

You can also look forward to letting loose by racing down the waterslides, settling in for a round of bowling, or losing an afternoon to a foam party on the pool deck.

The cruise also sports FIFA World Cup 2026 screenings, broadcasted live throughout the ship — at the main lobby, Zouk Beach Club and the Zodiac Theatre — so you won't miss a single goal even while at sea.

And if you'd like a little culture to balance things out, Forever Broadway brings the biggest hits from New York and London's stages onboard, in collaboration with Broadway Asia International.

Catch Kiiras performing live in October

From September to December 2026, Dream Cruises will move into the next phase of its anniversary celebration, called “Dream Lives On”, and this is where things go full pop culture.

Rising K-pop girl group Kiiras, the six-member act behind debut track "KILL MA BO$$", will perform live at sea from Oct. 25 to 27 on a special K-pop-themed Melaka sailing.

Guests on that cruise get a meet-and-greet, and free live performances on a first-come first-served basis and exclusive merch. If you're a K-pop fan, consider this your heads-up.

For those who enjoy Korean entertainment beyond just K-pop, or if you've ever yelled at your screen watching reality dating contestants make questionable choices, Dream Cruises is also launching “Inferno at Sea” in August, a dating series where six men and six women will come onboard a five-night cruise to compete and be matched.

Beyond that, there’s the 10X Music Festival at Sea, with 10 themed spaces each celebrating a different music genre — from Hindi disco to hip-hop. Dream Cruises has even released a 10th anniversary music video, "A Decade of Dreams", to set the tone for the year-long celebration.

Round that off with selfie rooms built for your camera roll, an Oktoberfest at Sea with steins, pretzels and live music included, along with Future Food and Belvedere cocktail nights for the grown-ups.

Short getaway without needing to fly

So, should you go?

Perhaps to help the group chat move from “maybe” to “booked”, note that Dream Cruises has launched a limited-time 10th anniversary promotion with special rates for the 2nd to 4th guests in the room at just S$10 per person (selected sailings only).

And if you're a DBS/POSB cardholder, there's an extra 5 per cent off on top of all the promotions with the promo code “DBS5”.

In short, it makes it a little easier to rope in your partner, besties, family members, or that one friend who keeps saying they "need a short break".

The Genting Dream sails year-round out of Singapore (and now Kuala Lumpur via Port Klang too), with two, three, four and five-night itineraries to spots like Penang, Phuket, Bali, Redang, Koh Samui and Bangkok too.

With the celebrations running all the way from March to December 2026 — spanning themed programmes, wellness activities and lifestyle experiences across the year — there's a sailing for just about every mood.

Those plans that never quite make it out of the group chat? This is your sign to finally make one happen.

Explore the full "Decade of Dreams" line-up, the sailing dates and the latest promotions over at the Dream Cruises website, or speak to your preferred travel agent to book.

Just maybe stretch before you board.

This branded article by Dream Cruises made this writer google "how to survive a Hyrox workout".

The contractor involved in the unauthorised clearing of saplings planted by volunteers as part of the National Parks Board's (NParks) OneMillionTrees movement has been issued a 24-month conditional warning following the completion of NParks' investigation into the incident.

They had also bore the cost of replanting the saplings, which was completed on Jun. 9, 2026.

Project supervisor misunderstood instructions

In an update, NParks' group director for enforcement and investigation Jessica Kwok provided more details as to how the incident occurred.

Kwok shared that the contractor was engaged to carry out cyclical replacement of the boardwalk at Lower Peirce Reservoir, and needed to identify a location that was near the trail entrance to store their materials.

"NParks had communicated to the site supervisor that the area (at the planting site) proposed by the contractor was not suitable for their storage space. Additionally, NParks had identified a suitable location for storage, on the condition that no trees or plants would be affected," Kwok added.

Kwok said that NParks' investigations showed that the unauthorised clearing was "due to an error by the project supervisor who was covering the duties of the site supervisor on overseas leave".

"Although the site supervisor had communicated NParks’ directions to him, the project supervisor had misunderstood the instructions, and stored the materials at a site which NParks had earlier assessed to be not suitable," Kwok explained.

Contractor agreed to bear cost of replanting

The area that was cleared measured 40.5 square metres.

The site on which the volunteers planted the saplings totalled 165.5 square metres.

The contractor and project supervisor later admitted their error, Kwok said.

They also agreed to bear the cost of replanting and maintaining the cleared plot.

Contractor may be charged in court if they offend again

A 24-month conditional warning was issued to the contractor by NParks after "carefully considering the facts and circumstances of the matter".

"This was their first offence. However, if either the contractor or project supervisor commits another offence during this period, they may be charged in court for both the original and new offences," Kwok said.

Replanting completed

The affected plot has been replanted with 60 new plants, and replanting was completed on Jun. 9, 2026.

Kwok shared that the plants comprise species originally planted during the 2025 volunteer activity, as well as three new species that are food plants for the Raffles banded langur and a variety of forest birds.

The 2025 volunteer activity was organised by the Raffles Banded Langur Working Group as part of their anniversary celebrations.

The species of saplings selected for the activity also included food plants for the primates.

Kwok added that NParks has verified that all the species planted during the original 2025 activity can still be found in the area.

Two station managers attended to a commuter who collapsed at Woodlands South MRT station and performed potentially life-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

The incident, which occurred on Jan. 21, was shared by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in a Jun. 30 post to highlight the efforts of the station managers, Navin and Faizal.

Commuter collapsed

Navin said a transit security officer informed him that a commuter had collapsed.

The man showed signs of cardiac arrest and appeared unresponsive, he said.

Another station manager, Faizal, used the automated external defibrillator (AED) to perform CPR on the passenger.

He admitted: "That's the very first time that I performed CPR on someone."

"He was struggling to breathe," Faizal also noted.

Paramedics soon arrived.

Commuter's children thank staff

Reflecting on the incident, Navin said: "I think this is one of those experiences that tests you as a station manager when you need to remain calm under pressure and have the presence of mind to respond swiftly and confidently."

The commuter's children returned to the MRT station on the same day to inform Faizal and Navin that their father had regained consciousness.

The children also thanked them for their help.

"Looking out for commuters is part of our job, but it's also something we genuinely care about," Faizal said.

"Great service isn't all about grand gestures. Sometimes its simply being ready to step forward when someone needs help," Navin said.

LTA lauded the duo for their proactiveness and revealed that public transport workers received over 31,000 compliments from commuters in the first quarter of 2026.

A 46-year-old woman was arrested after a fire broke out in a Sembawang Housing & Development Board flat on Jun. 30 at about 5:15pm.

Preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire indicates that it was deliberately set.

What happened

Footage of the incident online showed heavy smoke and bright flames billowing out of the unit's windows.

In response to queries from Mothership, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said they were alerted to the fire at around 5:15pm.

The fire involved the bedroom of a 10th-floor unit at Block 512 Wellington Circle.

SCDF personnel extinguished the flames using a water jet.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) confirmed with Mothership that the 46-year-old woman was conveyed conscious to Singapore General Hospital for smoke inhalation.

She was subsequently arrested for mischief by fire, and both police and SCDF investigations are currently ongoing.

A foreign worker in Singapore has won a lawsuit against his former employer over unpaid overtime after a tribunal found that he had worked between 13 and 15 hours a day, every day of the week, for months.

Although the company denied liability and claimed the worker had not worked any overtime at all, the tribunal ruled in the worker's favour and awarded him S$20,000.

The company was also ordered to pay S$400 in legal costs and S$60 in disbursements.

Worker's claims

According to a judgement published on Jul. 1, the claimant is a Bangladeshi national who was employed by an unnamed company from December 2023 to Dec. 8, 2025.

He worked at a Bangladeshi restaurant operated by the company.

Although the employer did not provide a written record of the key employment terms, both parties agreed that the employment was governed by the Ministry of Manpower's in-principle approval (IPA).

Under the IPA, the claimant was expected to work 44 hours per week, six days a week.

He received a basic monthly salary of S$1,500, and a fixed monthly allowance of S$500.

The IPA also stipulated an overtime rate of S$11.80 an hour.

The claimant, however, said he regularly worked between 13 and 15 hours a day, excluding breaks, seven days a week throughout his employment.

For his claim, he sought overtime pay only for the period between Apr. 1 and Dec. 8, 2025.

During that period, he said he accumulated 1,848.8 hours of overtime, amounting to S$21,815.84 in unpaid wages.

Evidence provided

The claimant produced an attendance table covering Apr. 1 to Dec. 8, 2025, prepared with assistance from a non-profit organisation.

The records showed that he worked every day during the period, generally from 5am to 9pm on Mondays to Saturdays, and from 7am to 9pm on Sundays.

When asked why he had only begun keeping records from March 2025, the claimant explained that the company had switched from a punch-card attendance system to a facial recognition system around that time.

Under the previous system, he was occasionally able to obtain completed punch cards from his supervisor and photographed them for his own records.

However, under the new system, he no longer had access to attendance records and began recording his daily clock-in and clock-out times by hand.

In response, the company called three witnesses: its office manager, its director and a chef who worked at the same restaurant.

All three said the claimant never worked overtime.

The office manager said the claimant never worked beyond the contractual 44-hour work week and would leave after completing his eight-hour shift, with the chef taking over his duties.

She added that employees would be paid in cash the same day if they worked overtime.

She also said the company did not make or keep any records of the claimant's working hours.

The chef testified that he himself worked about 11 hours a day, six days a week, and was paid in cash for two hours of overtime daily.

Despite regularly working overtime himself, he maintained that the claimant never did.

The director largely echoed the evidence given by the office manager and the chef, but argued that the claim was brought in retaliation after the company cancelled the claimant's work permit.

He described the claimant as "a troublesome employee" who had fought with customers on three occasions, and also criticised the non-profit organisation assisting him.

Findings

Tribunal magistrate Joel Tan said one aspect of the claimant's account initially stood out — that he had allegedly worked 13 to 15 hours a day for an extended period without making a formal complaint until after his employment ended.

The company used this point to contend that the claimant's account was inherently improbable and motivated by retaliation

Tan said he had initially found the argument persuasive.

However, upon further reflection, he concluded that an adjudicator should be cautious about judging how someone from a very different social, cultural and economic background might respond to difficult working conditions.

"Employees tolerate poor working conditions for all manner of reasons — fear of conflict, hope that things will improve, reluctance to risk a steady income, difficulty with finding alternative employment, or simple resignation that complaining will achieve nothing."

None of these are uncommon responses for any employee in Singapore, he said, adding that such considerations are often even more significant for foreign workers.

"A foreign worker with unpaid overtime or lack of rest days may, quite reasonably and rationally, consider that it is better to keep a bird in the hand — in the form of one’s monthly salary — than two birds in the bush — by pressing for overtime pay or rest day pay and risking repatriation."

Tan said the only documentary evidence relating to the hours worked was the attendance table submitted by the claimant.

He found the table credible, noting that the claimant gave a detailed and internally consistent explanation of how the records were prepared and why he began to keep handwritten notes.

The photographs of the punch cards were also found to be "authentic contemporaneous records" that supported the attendance table.

Though the company claimed it did not keep records of employees' working hours, Tan found this difficult to accept in light of the photographs of the punch-cards.

He also rejected the company's assertion that the facial recognition system was used only for employees of a related company operating an adjacent restaurant.

Instead, Tan found that the company had maintained attendance records but had simply refused to disclose them.

He was also critical of the company's position that the claimant had not worked any overtime at all.

"Even setting aside the attendance records, when a former employee brings a claim of this magnitude — every day worked, no rest days, overtime hours numbering in the thousands across months — she or he takes on a correspondingly greater risk of being contradicted," he said.

"The broader the claim, the easier it becomes for an employer to find at least one day, or one record that does not fit. In the age of digital communication, such evidence would not be difficult to come by. A message, a roster, a record of any kind showing that the claimant was not at work on a particular day or worked fewer hours than she or he claimed."

Yet, the company failed to produce a single well-supported example contradicting the claimant's account, saying employees' schedules were communicated verbally and face-to-face.

Tan said this was difficult to reconcile with the company's own evidence that workers had no fixed working hours or rest days and were informed of their schedules only a day in advance.

If that were true, he said, it was hard to believe there would be no digital communication over nearly two years of employment supporting the company's version of events.

Tan further noted that the restaurant had only three employees: a cleaner, the claimant and the chef.

With the restaurant operating from about 6am or 7am until around 11pm daily, he said he had "considerable difficulty" understanding how an effective shift system could have existed if the claimant had indeed stopped work after only eight hours.

The tribunal ultimately allowed the claim in full and awarded the claimant S$20,000, together with S$460 in costs and disbursements.