Access to justice

PROMOTING SYSTEMIC CHANGE

ACCESS TO JUSTICE

“Real justice requires more than just laws on paper. We want to make sure that systemic barriers are dismantled, so that the right to fair restitution becomes reality for all migrant workers.” – Mizue Sauco, TWC2 Legal Officer

TWC2 tackles barriers in the legal system to ensure that all mistreated workers can seek justice. We closely examine applications of the law, work with allies to set important precedents, hold errant lawyers to account, and shine a light on issues within justice processes.

In Singapore, when workers face employment-related disputes, they have two main avenues for recourse. Disputes such as salary and wrongful dismissal claims are first addressed through the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and then, if needed, at the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT). 

Workers are usually required to first attend mediation at TADM, which helps workers and employers negotiate settlements without going to court. If mediation fails, workers may proceed to the ECT, a specialised court that hears employment disputes and issues legally binding decisions.

Workers at TWC2 calculating their unpaid overtime hours, prior to filing their claims.

TWC2 closely scrutinises how these systems operate in practice, challenging procedural barriers, mediation practices, and legal interpretations at TADM and the ECT that may prevent workers from fully accessing justice.

Setting legal precedents

TWC2’s legal advocacy goes beyond individual casework. We strategically support cases that can clarify the law and set precedents at the highest levels of the legal system. Through partnerships with pro bono lawyers, we have achieved landmark rulings in the High Court that protect workers from similar injustices in future. 

Such cases often require years of perseverance, and we extend special thanks to our volunteers, partners, and all workers whose courage inspires this work.

We also track High Court rulings on other salary cases, and use these rulings to inform our approach to casework.

  • Analysis of 2020 High Court Ruling on common law injury
  • Analysis of 2019 High Court Ruling affected by reliability of witnesses
  • Analysis of the 2017 High Court Ruling on the In-Principle Approval for a Work Permit (IPA)

Enhancing legal scrutiny

TWC2 investigates the finer points of law that can strengthen a worker’s salary claim. These are often points that are sometimes overlooked at the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), whose officers have mistakenly dismissed cases because of a lack of expertise. Our team systemically identifies potential cases, tracks outcomes, accumulates the needed experience, and crafts methodologies to build successful claims for workers. 

Examples of occasions when we have spoken up:

Click on the following tabs to read about the legal points we currently scrutinise:

Legal points we currently scrutinise

Following Shofiqul’s High Court case, which provided clarity on what constitutes a workman in the Employment Act, we applied this knowledge in our casework. Subsequently, workers who were denied overtime compensation despite doing manual labour were able to successfully claim overtime through our assistance.

Read our case studies:

In 2019, the jurisdiction of TADM and the ECT was expanded to allow low-wage workers to file wrongful dismissal claims. However, despite this newfound accessibility, the number of claims TWC2 assisted remained low for several years. We are proactively identifying claims, and tracking their outcomes. We are also building a case for the wrongful dismissal claims period to be three months after the end of employment, instead of one.

Read our 2021 press comments on wrongful dismissal claims at TADM.

Read our case studies:

Workers are often forced to quit due to an employer’s serious breach of the law. While this constitutes wrongful constructive dismissal, in which case workers are entitled to compensation, few workers have successfully filed such claims. TWC2 is systematically identifying potential claims, and tracking their outcomes to understand both individual case results and broader patterns in how claims are resolved.

Employers usually have an unfair advantage when dictating the terms of notice periods and pay. Some workers thus come to us for help when they are (1) terminated without notice, or (2) face high amounts of notice pay to the employer when trying to resign. TWC2 is tracking such cases to deepen our understanding of the laws around notice pay, and to ultimately help workers in such situations build strong cases against their employers.

Read our case studies:

A worker holding up his Tribunal order after winning his salary claim at court, with TWC2 case officer David.

Improving the ECT process

In 2017, the Employment Claims Tribunal was established to replace Singapore’s Labour Court, and is a low-cost legal avenue for workers to pursue an expanded range of employment claims. TWC2 has since worked to document persistent challenges faced by migrant workers when navigating the ECT process. By highlighting structural barriers within it, we are pushing for shifts that make the system more accessible to low-wage workers.

Challenging unfair practices

The basis for issuing stern warnings is loose and opaque; factually innocent people can be slapped with warnings, and then be administratively penalised. This has a disproportionate impact on migrant workers, who can lose the chance to earn a livelihood in Singapore. TWC2 strongly urges a review of the stern warning system.

  • Read our 2025 report Singapore’s Stern Warning system: criteria, comparisons, and concerns
  • Read our 2023 report Stern Warning: punishment without due process

Some case studies:

TWC2 advises an injured worker (arm in sling) about the injury compensation process, so he knows he doesn’t need a lawyer.

Holding lawyers to account

While we hold our friends and  colleagues in the legal profession in the highest regard, there are also errant lawyers and paralegals who take advantage of migrant workers. Over the years, we have highlighted such cases of misconduct to the Law Society, and led to serious professional consequences for such lawyers.

In 2024, Joseph Chen was disbarred after neglecting a worker’s injury case for nine months, resulting in its discontinuation without the worker’s knowledge. Read more on our website and the ST.

In 2023, Saha Ranjit Chandra, a paralegal who had been associated with now-disbarred lawyers Charles Yeo and Joseph Chen, was charged in court for insurance fraud. More here.

In 2022, the High Court found serious ethical lapses by lawyer Subbiah Pillai, who defrauded a worker of his insurance compensation settlement. The worker only received his money 8 years after the initial settlement payout, when his application to the Law Society Compensation Fund was approved, thanks to the help of our probono network. Read more about the case on Legal Wires.