This research report identifies a whole series of barriers that handicap migrant workers when they have employment-related grievances, mostly over salary that is not paid or only partially paid.

It begins by explaining the redress system available, which is a two-stage process. In the first stage, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), housed within the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), oversees a mediation process between employer and employee to facilitate an amicable settlement. If no settlement can be reached, the case moves to the State Courts’ Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) which adjudicates the dispute.

The focus of this study is on the ECT phase. Being a part of the State Courts, the processes applied are court-like which virtually all low-wage migrant workers would find daunting.

The barriers identified in this report are eightfold:

  • Migrant workers themselves may be unclear about available avenues;
  • Employers have considerable control over evidence, making it unusually difficult for workers to prove their claims;
  • Even when workers have evidence in hand, they may not make the best use of them; there may be an inability to understand or articulate what the evidence shows, or how to frame their arguments in relation to the legislative provision in question;
  • When evidence is in a foreign language, they need to be translated in court-prescribed ways, and this is very costly;
  • Substituted contracts, which is quite a common feature of migrant workers’ employment experiences, bedevil many cases;
  • When two parties are not with equal bargaining power, which is usually the case in employer-migrant worker relationships, there are limited defences in law against exploiting the power imbalance to obtain more favourable terms in contract;
  • Economic realities make it difficult for migrant workers to sustain themselves for a long fight through a highly bureaucratic process;
  • Even when workers win their cases at the ECT, employers can still ignore the judgement order and refuse to pay; the process of enforcing court orders can be prohibitively expensive.

At various points in the report, recommendations are made.

The study was done by a volunteer, a new graduate from law school, over a three month period in the fourth quarter of 2025. He reviewed 18 cases and interviewed each one of them.

The full report (26 pages, in PDF) can be downloaded by clicking the icon at right.