Transient Workers Count Too’s recent media statement was carried by the Business Times and Today. The Business Times (‘TWC2 unhappy with govt decision to defer payslips’, 20 Nov 2013) highlighted
The non-profit group also wants the Manpower Ministry (MOM) to “at least institute it as a condition” required of employers who want to apply for work permits.
and that
TWC2 pointed out that issuing payslips do not significantly add to a company’s costs as it called on MOM to not accept this as an “excuse”.
It also mentioned that initial results from a survey we are currently conducting indicate that as many as one third of foreign workers are not being correctly paid. This may mean up to 250,000 workers affected.
Today newspaper had a lengthy report on our press statement, under the headline “Issuing payslips with not add to employers’ costs”. It wrote:
In a statement yesterday, TWC2 chided such employers for their “spurious claims” and said the minister should not have given weight to such an argument.
“Employers have to calculate salaries anyway, including overtime each month for each employee; it is not as if this exercise does not have to be done at present. Issuing a payslip is simply an act of giving the employee a copy of the calculation,” it said.
“Moreover, this can be outsourced for as little as a few dollars per employee per month, representing less than 0.5 per cent of a typical work-permit employee’s total cost, if a company does not wish to keep a payroll clerk on its own payroll.”
It added: “The only employers who may find their costs increase would be those who are not currently making the effort to calculate salaries at all.”
It too mentioned our rough estimate that as many as a quarter million workers may not be paid correctly.