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Comprehensive Understanding of The Employment Act and Its Practical Applications

For all employers in Singapore, it is no doubt that you have to engage statutory employees who are covered under the Employment Act. Therefore, human resource practitioners have to equip themselves in their knowledge on the latest amendments of the Employment Act, which is the basic labour law governing employment relations in Singapore.

This is notwithstanding that on 1 April 2019; there will be further amendments such that all employees will be covered under the Employment Act. This will necessitate HR practitioners to constantly keep up with the recent and upcoming amendments to the Employment Act to constantly update their HR policies, rules and regulations to be compliant with the Employment Act. Failing to adhere to the new regulations with proper administration can put an employer in a vulnerable position and subject to the risk of unlawful practices, lawsuits and litigations which may cause a great deal of stress, lowered productivity and higher turnover.

At the end of this workshop, delegates can be assured that they will be more competent in their understanding of the Employment Act and its applications.

Objective

1. Differences between the different types of statutory law employee, i.e. non-executive and Professionals, Managers and Executives.

2. Comprehensive understanding of the Employment Act and in particular Part 1, 2,3,4,6,9 and 10 of the Act, which is a must know for all HR practitioners.

3. Entitlement under CDCA which must be read with the Employment Act.

4. Understand the cost impact of PMEs who eligible for coverage under the Employment Act.

5. Know the amendments to the Employment Act which took effect on 1 April 2019.

6. Application of Employment Act to day-to-day dealings at the workplace and in particular to HR policies and procedures, employment contracts, Collective Agreement etc.

Outline

A competent HR practitioner must have the skills and knowledge in the following:

1. Coverage of Employment Act
• Definition of statutory employee (Non-Executive and Professional, Managers and Executives)
• Definition of workman
• Definition of employer
• Contract of service versus contract for service
• Course of employment

2. Contract of employment
• Essential or key employment terms in an employment contract
• Legal requirements of an employment contract
• Itemised payslips
• Terms and conditions of an employment contract
• Conditions versus warranties
• Prohibition/Restriction

3. Termination of employment contract
• Contractual termination of statutory employee
• Contractual termination of common law employee
• Differences between dismissal with notice and without notice.
• Is contractual simplicitor applicable to Singapore employment laws?
• When is a contract deemed to be broken between employer and employee?
• Misconduct of statutory employee versus common law employee
• Representation for reinstatement
• Suspension and Inquiry to dismissal
• Difference between force resignation and constructive dismissal
• Misconduct, negligence and breach of company rules and regulations
• Compensation/Reinstatement for wrongful and unfair dismissal

4. Payment of Salary
• Definition of salary, i.e. basic rate of pay and gross rate of pay
• Time of payment
• Payment on dismissal
• Authorised deduction of salary
• Recovery of advances and loans

5. Terms and conditions
• Freedom of contract, i.e. fair versus unfair
• Statutory terms of employment
• What is stipulated working hours
• Work week/shift patterns
• Definition of overtime/time-off
• Rates of pay for overtime, off day, rest day, training and public holiday
• Retrenchment and retirement benefits
• Annual leave, no pay leave, garden leave
• AWS, bonuses, commission and incentive schemes

6. Part-time employment
• Definition of a part-time employee
• Definition of temporary, casual labour and fixed-term, on-loan employees and independent contractor
• Pro-ration of statutory and non-statutory benefits
• Encashment calculation

7. Maternity, Paternity and Childcare leave
• Differences between entitlement under Employment Act and Children Co-Savings Development Act (CDCA)
• Amendments in 2017 to paternity leave, maternity leave and shared parental leave
• Payment for maternity leave, paternity leave and childcare leave
• Differences between dismissal, termination and summary dismissal
• Prohibition of dismissal during maternity leave
• Expiry of fixed term contract while pregnant or during confinement

8. Holiday and sick leave entitlement
• Public Holidays Act
• Entitlement for public holidays for statutory and common law employees
• Rate of pay for a public holiday
• A public holiday falling on a working day, rest day and off day for shift and non-shift work
• Recognition of medical certificate from private versus government clinic doctors in and outside Singapore
• Recognition of medical certificate for cosmetic purposed.
• Dismissal while on hospitalisation leave
• Eligibility of public holidays for General Election and Presidential Election

9. Claims, Complaints and Offences
• Time bar to complaints
• Back payment for claims
• Penalties for the offence of failure to pay salaries
• Maximum composition amount for that may be imposed for any offence
• The company commits an offence and presumption clause on Directors of companies

10. Others
• Definition of gross and basic pay
• Fixed allowances versus flexible allowances
• CPF contribution and personal taxation
• Treatment of foreigner, Singapore Permanent Resident and Singapore

Who should attend

• Human Resource Practitioners
• Industrial Relations Practitioners
• Lawyers
• In-House Legal Counsels
• Line Managers/Executives
• Any other persons interested in grasping a good understanding of the Employment Act.

Methodology

Lecture and case study.

Profile of Arthur Khong

Mr. Arthur Khong is the esteemed founder of HR Law Academy, a pioneering institution in Singapore specializing in employment laws and industrial relations. Departing from his role at Keppel Energy in June 2013, Arthur embarked on a mission to provide comprehensive training and consultancy services in the landscape of Singapore's employment laws and industrial practices.


Work Experience

Arthur first embarked on his career in human resource management with Western Digital in 1993. To-date, he has held several senior Human Resource positions including:

• Legal Counsel - Chugoku Marine Paints (S) Pte Ltd
• General Manager, Human Resources – Keppel Energy Pte Ltd
• Group Regional Vice President – Yeo Hiap Seng Ltd
• Director of Human Resource – Far East Organization, Hotel Group
• Director of Human Resource – Goodwood Park Hotel

In his 22 years’ career span in human resource management, Arthur has also held regional human resource responsibilities for overseas subsidiaries in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Brazil and USA. He is also experienced in industrial relations management as all the companies that he has worked for are unionised companies, some even with multiple unions.

Prior to embarking on his human resource management career, Arthur was with the Singapore Police Force as a Senior Police Officer.

University Lecturer

Arthur is currently an Adjunct Faculty with the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). He started his lecture stint at SUSS in 2009. He lectures on the following modules at SUSS:-

• Employment Laws and Legal Issues
• Employment and Industrial Relations
• Human Resource Management

In addition, Arthur is also an adjunct lecturer for SUSS where he lectures in contract law (Diploma in Management) and staffing and employee development (Graduate Diploma in HR Mgmt).

Workshop Leader

Arthur is also an active freelance workshop leader, having conducted numerous workshops in employment laws and industrial relations since 2007.

Author

Arthur is the author of :

1. The Human Resource Practitioners’ Guide to Employment Laws, the 4th edition (LexisNexis)
2. The Human Resource Practitioners’ Guide to Industrial Relations, the 1st edition (LexisNexis)
3. The Human Resource Practitioners’ Guide to Employment Contracts and HR policies and procedures, the 1st edition (HR Law Academy)

These guidebooks seek to outline the employment laws and industrial relations in Singapore in simple language to give HR Practitioners a better understanding of the rights and obligations of both the employer and the employee.

Educational Qualifications:

Arthur possesses the following educational qualifications:

• Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from University of Manitoba
• Bachelor of Laws (Honors) from University of London
• Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management from Singapore Institute of Management
• Diploma in Training and Development from Singapore Institute of Management
• Master of Management (HR Management) from Macquarie University
• Graduate Certificate in International Arbitration from National University of Singapore
• Advance Certificate in Training Assessment from Workforce Development Agency

Current Professional Affiliations

• Non-Practitioner Member of the Law Society of Singapore
• Fellow Member of Singapore Institute of Arbitrators

Past Professional Affiliations

• Member of Industrial Relations Panel of Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF)
• Chairman of Industrial (Other Areas) Group of SNEF
• Council Member of Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI)