Strengthen Wage Protection for Migrant Workers during Covid-19 Pandemic
16 April 2020
HOME welcomes the intent behind MOM’s advisory on salary payments to foreign workers residing in dormitories, which was issued on 14 April 2020. We also note that Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo has repeatedly reassured workers that they will be paid their wages during this pandemic. For MOM to be able to keep this promise, the advisory must be strenuously enforced and complemented by other measures and practices.
Our concerns:
Employers are still able to terminate workers whose wages they are unable/unwilling to pay. HOME has already seen numerous cases of workers who have been laid off overnight and consequently lost access to their accommodation and food.
Domestic workers’ wages and jobs are not protected by this advisory. HOME has also seen cases where domestic workers have been asked to take a substantial salary cut, or have been terminated since the onset of the pandemic. A directive has been issued that they are not allowed to leave their employer’s homes on their rest days. The nature of live in domestic work makes it difficult for workers to rest in their employer’s homes, especially if they do not have their own rooms or have to sleep in store rooms. In addition to lack of rest, we are concerned that they may not be paid if they continue to work during this period.
Most migrant workers rent bed space on the open market. They, too, are unable to go to work, in compliance with the circuit breaker measures. The advisory does not cover these workers, as it is explicitly for those residing in dormitories. The reason for this exclusion is unclear.
Despite the clear terms in the advisory, there will be employers who fail to pay workers their wages, or collect them back as excessive deductions for food and accommodation. As employers are also financially strapped, such violations may likely increase.
More than 1800 workers have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and it is expected that this number will grow substantially in the coming weeks. The Employment Act provides for 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave and 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave (after three months of employment), some of which these workers may already have taken. After this, employers are allowed to deduct pay for the days they are not able to go to work due to their infection.
MOM has cut back on regular services to workers who have salary, work injury or other claims. Workers whom we were assisting with such claims prior to the pandemic have had their MOM appointments postponed. To ensure that the advisory is complied with, workers should have reasonable access to recourse.
Recommendations:
While the Ministry of Manpower allows workers with salary claims to change employers on a case by case basis, they often face difficulty finding prospective employers because recruiters demand upfront fees or unethical employers demand kickbacks. Workers should be supported in finding alternative employment through MOM’s partner agencies, should they be laid off or have their wages unpaid.
All domestic workers should be granted the right to change employers in this period. This is currently a right they do not enjoy save for limited circumstances, and HOME has advocated their right to switch employers freely for a long time. As domestic responsibilities increase during this period of home-based learning and work-from-home arrangements, more households may need a domestic worker, and will face difficulties in hiring one from abroad given the restrictions around new domestic workers entering Singapore. Further, due to border control measures, domestic workers who have been terminated may not be able to return home, and their employers still remain responsible for their upkeep. Allowing transfers would be beneficial to all stakeholders.
Migrant workers' wages, like local workers’, can be government-subsidised in this period to reduce the financial burden on employers, in turn helping them keep more workers employed and ensuring their welfare is taken care of.
A levy waiver for the next three months, for all migrant workers (domestic and non-domestic) will also help employers afford to keep more workers employed, and for them to be paid their full wages on time. The levy measures which have been announced so far – a three-month extension of the levy payment timeline, a three-month waiver only for workers on overseas leave, and a one time levy rebate only are not sufficient, as they provide only short-term relief for a problem which has effects that will be felt for a long time.
While wage deductions for food, accommodation and utilities are usually permitted for migrant workers, in these extraordinary circumstances, these should not be allowed. For one, this will reduce the chances of abuse of the system where employers declare higher food and accommodation costs and thereby cut back on wages. Secondly, this is an important way to stand in solidarity with our migrant workers in these extraordinary times, so they can remit more of their wages to their families back home.
Wage protection should be guaranteed for all workers who test positive for Covid-19, even after they have used up the legal entitlements of 14 days of outpatient sick leave and 60 days of hospitalisation leave under the Employment Act.
More information from MOM on how errant employers will be identified, and what consequences they will face, will help reassure the public that the advisory on wages is enforceable. Suspension of work pass privileges, and other administrative penalties, is an inadequate deterrent, especially in these times. Employers should be charged and sentenced to deter others such offenders.
To ensure that employers provide salaries and upkeep, we urge MOM to work closely with all migrant labour NGOs to assist workers with complaints or claims. There have to be accessible, well-resourced channels for workers to make complaints.
For those unable to return home due to travel restrictions, their employers’ responsibility to provide their upkeep in Singapore must be enforced. The government must put aside more resources to support workers in these situations who are unable to remain in the care of their employers, including shelter for domestic workers in distress.
Migrant workers’ jobs and wages have always been precarious, even in ordinary times.: structural disempowerment, limited access to redress and justice, and a pre-existing culture of exploitation are deeply entrenched. Withholding of salary, unlawful salary deductions, late payments and unfair dismissals are common in the experience of migrant workers. But the Covid-19 situation also presents an opportunity for progress that can be sustained beyond this pandemic. Consistent enforcement and changes to laws and regulations as suggested above, can make this a reality.