Articles > Stories
Fantastic salary, easy job. What can go wrong?
An office worker paid $12,000 and comes to Singapore believing he will be a construction supervisor. Naturally, many things go wrong.
Employer compels worker to sacrifice all his weekly rest days, pays him less than half his proper salary
Can an employer compel a worker to give up all his rest days? Sign something without letting him read it? Pay less than half the proper salary?
One month after starting work, employer reduces workers’ salaries by 26%
Two marine engineering workers were offered absurdly low salaries of $350. But after arriving in Singapore, the employer slashed $100 off that.
Agent channelled recruitment fees through suspicious channels
Here is a case where a worker could show us how money flowed from her Myanmar recruiter to the Singapore agency. Actually, no money flowed to the agency, even though thousands of dollars moved.
TADM’s salary claim calculation for a worker bakes in deductions – it’s wrong
The crux of this story is about deductions made to a worker's salary. Just because a figure for deductions is written into the In-Principle Approval, does that make it legit?
What happens when lower-skill workers are hired on mid-salary S-Passes?
A case study of lower-skill construction workers hired on S-Passes at inflated salaries, and who then find that no such salaries are forthcoming. Any route to justice?
Ambiguous law on rest day pay leaves workers exposed to exploitation
Two recent ECT cases with very similar facts ended up with diametrically opposite rulings, showing how messy the law on rest day pay is.
Unreliable Bangladesh passport sunsets a worker’s career in Singapore
Governmental documents in migrant workers' countries of origin are not always as watertight as Singapore's, creating problems for their citizens.
Boss locks up his workers, seizes phones and deletes all their data
Salaries, including overtime earned, had not been paid for months. Afraid that workers would file claims, boss seizes phones from workers, erasing all data.
Worker left with neither salary nor injury compensation after employer went bankrupt
Singapore's protection for workers is weak when an employer files for bankruptcy. Migrant worker Nurul's story shows the reality that results.
