Mediation, online dispute resolution help workers recover owed wages

SINGAPORE – An annual report on employment standards released on Tuesday laid out data on salary and wrongful dismissal claims lodged formally in 2022.

Among other things, the report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) said that more than eight in 10 salary claims were resolved with the help of trained mediators at TADM.

The Straits Times speaks to three employees who recovered their owed wages. Names have been withheld for confidentiality.

Salary withheld for making insurance claim

After getting into an accident one afternoon in June 2021, Mr Tan asked for instructions from his then-employer, a transport company, but received none.

“I found out the repair fee quoted for the other vehicle was too expensive for me to settle privately, so I decided to report it to the motor insurance company that evening,” said the driver, who is in his 60s.

“My boss was very angry, and scolded me for making the claim, but I… only decided to resign in December 2021 as I started to question his treatment of me,” he said in Mandarin.

After waiting for more than two weeks without receiving his final paycheck of over $1,800, Mr Tan was at his wits’ end and submitted a salary claim to TADM’s online dispute resolution portal with his daughter’s help.

A TADM mediator called him to establish the facts and calculate his claim amount, using his appointment and confirmation letters and payslips for reference.

Even after an agreement was struck, the employer only grudgingly paid Mr Tan the sum owed to him on the last day before the payment deadline, more than two months after his wages were due.

Mr Tan, who moved on to drive for a new employer in January 2022, said being able to make online submissions and talk to a mediator on the phone, if needed, is convenient for workers like him.

“We need to apply (for) leave and make an appointment to physically visit TADM at a specific time, whereas using the phone or Internet allows us to just take time out of our work day to speak.”

Cruise trip deducted from salary

A few months after Amirah clinched her first full-time job as a pre-school teacher, she suddenly stopped receiving her basic salary, overtime payments and paid leave benefits in February 2023.

Three days after her payday came and went without her salary being deposited, she spoke with her employer, only for him to say deductions from her salary were needed.

“He even claimed that I actually owed the company money because I would have to bear the cost of some Teachers’ Day cruise trip that I did not go for.”