An employer who failed to pay wages to 73 foreign workers on time had his four-week jail sentence affirmed by an appeal court.
The unpaid salaries ranged from two to seven months’ worth.
The Straits Times reported that Lee Chiang Theng, 58, sole director of Goldrich Venture and Gates Offshore, had pleaded guilty last year to multiple charges relating to the foreign workers he had employed. These included:
2 charges for failing to provide acceptable accomodation (for which he was fined $8,000)
7 charges for using workers in jobs not stated in their work permits.
The latter seven workers’ work permits stated that they were to be labourers, but were instead asked to do cleaning and insulation jobs at shipyards.
Lee had another 67 charges taken into account during sentencing.
Source: Straits Times, October 11, 2011: Unpaid wages: Boss loses appeal against jail