Rilek1Corner

Tag: MOM

  • 22 Unlicensed Food Handlers, Illegal Workers Arrested At Geylang Serai Bazaar

    22 Unlicensed Food Handlers, Illegal Workers Arrested At Geylang Serai Bazaar

    A total of 22 unlicensed food handlers were arrested at Geylang Serai Bazaar on Tuesday (May 30), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said.

    Responding to a media query from Channel NewsAsia, MOM said the food handlers were working illegally and were detained during a joint operation conducted by the police, MOM and the National Environment Agency (NEA).

    The illegal workers were arrested by MOM.

    Photos of bazaar workers being handcuffed made the rounds on social media on Tuesday afternoon, as netizens speculated on why the stall was raided.

     

    Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/

  • Malaysians Getting EP And PR Below Salary Criteria

    Malaysians Getting EP And PR Below Salary Criteria

    I am not sure how long this scene of Malaysians getting special benefits from MOM (to get EP below the salary criteria) has been going on, but it has definitely been around for at least 3 years.

    I know this because my Malaysian ex-colleague in my previous company, has been holding onto her EP (renewed before too) for 3 years despite drawing lesser than the required salary, as stated on MOM’s website.

    When I first got into my previous company, the boss was certainly very confident that he would be able to get me the EP with just paying me $2400. Initially I doubted him, as that was not to my knowledge and it was not openly stated anywhere on MOM’s website about this. However, when the EP came, I checked the application form which my ex-boss has filed to MOM for my work visa, and he did not lie to MOM about the salary that he would pay me monthly. It was indeed reported to MOM as 2,400, and it was approved. It came as a surprise for me, but according to my ex-colleagues, who happen to be mostly Malaysians, it was the same for them.

    I believe that this may not be applicable to other nationalities.. as the Indonesians in the very same company I have mentioned above had to be under S-Pass instead. I even tried checking the self assessment tool just like the user who opened this thread, and my qualifications warrants an EP and S-Pass, whereas an Indonesian with exact same qualifications would only be able to get a S-Pass only.

    Hope that this helps to give a clearer insight… Sorry if I’m reviving an inactive thread, but thought I would just like to share this information. Anyway, peace out.

    https://forum.singaporeexpats.com/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=113024&p=761006#p761006

     

    Source: www.transitioning.org

  • MOM: Unemployment Rate Up For Citizens And PRs

    MOM: Unemployment Rate Up For Citizens And PRs

    While layoffs dipped in the first quarter of this year, the overall unemployment rate continued to edge up, preliminary estimates released on Friday (April 28) by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed.

    Pointing to a “mixed” picture, the MOM report also showed that the total number of people in employment shrank.

    Seasonally adjusted, the overall unemployment rate — which covers citizens and permanent residents as well as foreigners living in households here — crept up from 2.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent between the end of the fourth quarter of 2016 and the first quarter.

    The unemployment rate for citizens and permanent residents, however, stayed unchanged over the same period (3.2 per cent), as did the citizen unemployment rate (3.5 per cent). An estimated 74,400 residents were estimated to be jobless at the end of the first quarter.

    Meanwhile, the number of layoffs dipped slightly from 5,440 to 4,800 between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the first quarter, with redundancies continuing its climb in the construction and services sectors.

    The services sector accounted for more than six in 10 redundancies (63 per cent). For the whole of last year, the number of job redundancies stood at 19,170, the highest since the 2009 global financial crisis.

    Total employment, meanwhile, contracted by 8,500, after it grew by 2,300 in the fourth quarter of last year, owing mainly to a dip in the number of work-permit holders in the construction and manufacturing sectors.

    For instance, the number of people employed in construction dipped by 12,900, the third straight quarterly fall.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

     

     

     

     

  • Jobless And Unpaid By Employers, Bangladeshi Workers Faces Daunting Fate

    Jobless And Unpaid By Employers, Bangladeshi Workers Faces Daunting Fate

    At least six Bangladeshi workers may have to go home as soon as next week, if they are not able to find a new employer.

    Their previous employers, HBB Engineering and C-Plus Engineering, owed them between four and eight months’ pay.

    In total, 31 workers from the two companies have been affected.

    While the workers have received a portion of their pay, some have been out of work since January after their work permits were cancelled by their employers.

    Though the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) informed them that they had two weeks to approach any employment agency for help, the workers have not been able to find alternative employment.

    A spokesman for MOM said the six workers will have the remainder of their salaries paid through insurers later when they either find a new employer or when they return home.

    But the workers will be going home to a mountain of debts they’d hoped to pay off with a steady job in Singapore.

    Mr Prodhan Abdur Razzak, 36, was an excavator operator with HBB Engineering. He came to Singapore last May and stopped receiving his salary in July. He said his employer cancelled his work permit in January.

    He has received $1,773 – half of the pay he is owed by the company – but has a $4,700 debt to pay off back home, consisting of a bank loan he took to pay agent fees to travel to Singapore and medical bills incurred by his family.

    The Straits Times reported on March 10 that the companies are being investigated by MOM.

    Mr Razzak, who comes from the Chandpur district in Bangladesh, told The New Paper: “I asked my boss for some money to pay the medical bills, but he always said he had no money.

    “I even cried but, in the end, I had to borrow from a friend to pay the bills.”

    Mr Razzak added that his S Pass expires on March 30.

    His is one of 4,500 salary-related claims involving foreign workers that MOM has received every year for the last three years. MOM said more than 95 per cent of claims are resolved every year.

    Non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) told TNP it handled 376 salary cases last year and the 2017 figures already look set to surpass this number.

    Mr A.B.M. Rafiqul Islam, the owner of both HBB Engineering and C-Plus Engineering, was not contactable for comment yesterday.

    Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) chairman Yeo Guat Kwang told TNP that, while the centre is able to actively source for employment for the workers through its network of industry associations, the “success rate is generally not high” and called for a “multi-stakeholder, collaborative approach” to the issue.

    “MWC plans to partner the industry associations, as well as the MOM, in exploring and considering additional measures that the stakeholders may take to improve our system to better assist and facilitate migrant workers to secure alternative employment,” said Mr Yeo.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Punching Bag For The Rich: Maid Slapped, Punched, Whacked With Canes By Wealthy Employers

    Punching Bag For The Rich: Maid Slapped, Punched, Whacked With Canes By Wealthy Employers

    A married couple were sentenced to jail after a 14-day trial, which revealed the numerous ways they had assaulted their Indonesian maid for almost two years.

    Addressing the man, Tay Wee Kiat, 39, just before delivering the sentence, District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said: “It is clear that you are the main perpetrator.”

    He then sentenced the former regional IT manager to two years and four months in jail after convicting him of all 12 charges.

    Nine of the charges were for causing hurt to Ms Fitriyah, 34, who had worked for them in Yishun Avenue 6 from Dec 7, 2010 to Dec 12, 2012.

    The other three were for abetting his Myanmar maid Moe Moe Than, 28, to slap the Indonesian helper on the face; offering to pay Ms Fitriyah her salary and send her home in exchange for not reporting his offence of abuse; and instructing Ms Fitriyah to lie to the police that he did not abuse the other maid.

    Tay’s wife, former senior sales manager Chia Yun Ling, 41, now a part-time events administrator, was sentenced to two months’ jail for slapping Ms Fitriyah sometime between June and December 2012, and punching her on the forehead on Dec 7 that year.

    During the trial, the court heard that Tay hit the Indonesian’s head with canes and bamboo sticks.

    In one incident in February 2011, as punishment, he stuffed an incense bottle into her mouth and forced her to stand for half an hour on one leg on a stool, holding another stool overhead.

    Ms Than testified that Tay forced her and Ms Fitriyah to get down on all fours and then kicked their backsides.

    He also made them slap each other 10 times and hit them with three tied-up canes.

    Seeking a sentence of at least 33 months’ jail for Tay and a minimum three months for Chia, Deputy Public Prosecutors Kumaresan Gohulabalan and Dora Tay cited several aggravating factors such as their abuse of authority.

    “He virtually treated Fitriyah as a punching bag upon which he could vent his frustrations on matters that had nothing to do with her,” said the prosecutors.

    Both are appealing and are out on $5,000 bail each.

    In an advisory last night, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower urged foreign domestic worker (FDW) employers to be patient and understanding towards their helpers.

    “If employers or FDWs are facing problems with their employment relationship, they should approach their employment agency, or call the Centre for Domestic Employees at 1800 2255 233 for advice and assistance,” he said.

     

    Source: TNP