A 40-year-old Singaporean man has been fined S$72,000 for hiring Indonesians without valid work passes as stall assistants at three pasar malams (night markets) last year. Between Jun 1 to Sep 16 last year, Sao Wei Loon employed the 19 social visit pass holders to work as assistants at food and beverage stalls in bazaars at Geylang Serai, Tampines and Toa Payoh, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a press release on Wednesday (Jun 28).
The illegal employment lasted from three days to more than three weeks. The MOM’s director of employment inspectorate at the foreign manpower management division, Mr Kandhavel Periyasamy, called this a “particularly egregious” case of illegal employment as Sao had illegally employed a large number of foreigners on social visit passes. Sao was convicted of eight of the 19 charges after pleading guilty on Tuesday. He will serve the default sentence of six months’ imprisonment in lieu of the fine.
In the last two years, 109 employers were convicted for illegal employment offences according to the MOM. Those who hire foreigners without valid work passes can be fined up to S$30,000 and jailed up to 12 months. They will also be banned from employing foreign workers, the MOM said.
Source: Channel News Asia
