Discussion: Ministry of Manpower’s administrative processes
This research report draws on interviews with workers pursuing ECT cases, highlighting the obstacles they face
A young woman's year in Singapore is spent exploring the toothlessness of Singapore regulators.
Over 120 migrant workers from three linked companies lost their jobs late 2025. For many of them it's a struggle to get a bed for the night and food in the stomach. The law is clear, but enforcement is mysteriously absent.
Over a hundred men working for three inter-connected companies filed salary complaints. All were owed thousands of dollars; but all had also paid around $10,000 to get their jobs. Do the math: 100 men x $10,000 each.
A case study of how bad MOM policy makes life a living hell for a victim of salary non-payment. He is broke, homeless, with no money for food. There is no social safety net. Deliberately so?
It first began with the employer cutting out the agent (to the worker's advantage), but it actually was a sign that the employer couldn't be trusted to honour the contract.
Responding to Parliamentary questions, MOM provides quite a few numbers relating the the abuse of the Training Employment Pass.
Difficult to get workers with the needed skills, employers say. Look more closely, and we also see a huge reluctance to sponsor workers for training, or even to give them time off to do so.
An employer fails to pay salaries in full or on time, ignores the rule that salaries muct be paid through bank, or that payslips must be issued. When challenged by TADM, the boss presents falsified documents.
An Indian worker has been required to remain in Singapore for two years because of an investigation into abuse of the Training Employment Pass by his employer. Why does an investigation take so long?
