Work Passes: Not Practical To Put Onus On Foreign Workers To Blow Whistle On Employers

This letter was published in The Straits Times on 16 October 2007.

I refer to the article, 'Work Pass: More Bosses Caught Cheating'. In the past year, HOME has handled several cases of workers whose employers are being investigated for falsely declaring the salaries of foreign workers.

While we agree in principle that foreign workers should report to the authorities for work pass infringements, we also need to understand that it is difficult for them to do so.

Many foreign workers borrow several thousand Singapore dollars to pay their agents to find work for them. Some have to sacrifice up to a year's salary just to repay these loans. Reporting their employer's misdemeanour would be an unpractical solution as they fear losing their jobs, which would in turn exacerbate their debt situation. The prospect of losing the job that they have paid so much for makes it difficult for them to risk jeopardising it.

Moreover, foreign workers may not be aware that they are breaking the law by continuing to work for such employers because they have  limited knowledge about how the work pass system functions here. 

Many are also unaware that work pass conditions have been breached because employers and employment agents will not inform them that their salaries were under-declared for fear of workers getting them into trouble.

Hence, to put the onus on foreign workers to report such cases and penalising them for not doing so ignores the deceptive and exploitative work conditions they face.