More employees in Singapore file for salary claims in 2022

The total amount recovered in salary claims filed by local and foreign employees in Singapore reached S$12 million (US$9 million) in 2022, a 40% rise from the previous year, reported Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM).

According to the annual Employment Standards Report, salary claims surged by 26% to 6,123 in 2022, up from 4,848 in 2021. The overall incidence of employment claims and appeals rose to 1.97 per 1,000 employees in 2022, compared to 1.73 per 1,000 employees in the previous year.

Of the 7,140 employment claims and appeals received in 2022, 57% were from local employees, while foreign employees accounted for the remaining 43%. Most of the claims were related to salary issues, including disputes over basic salary, salary in-lieu of notice, and overtime pay. Dismissal claims constituted the majority of the remaining cases.

Both local and foreign employees saw an increase in salary arrears claims in 2022. However, the report highlighted that the overall incidence of salary arrears and wrongful dismissal claims remained below pre-pandemic levels.

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The report showed that 86% of salary claims were resolved through mediation at TADM in 2022. Out of these cases, 90% were concluded within two months. Moreover, 93% of employees who lodged salary claims in 2022 fully recovered their owed salaries, while 4% received partial payments. The remaining 3% of claims, mostly from higher-income earners, were not successful.

Wrongful dismissal claims increased slightly by 2.6% to 946 in 2022. However, the overall incidence decreased to 0.26 claims per 1,000 employees in 2022 from 0.27 in 2021, reported The Straits Times.