6th employer fined for not paying maids for several months
AsiaOne
Wednesday, Aug 01, 2012
SINGAPORE - The employer of two foreign domestic workers (FDWs) was fined $4,710 for failing to pay their salaries punctually.
40-year-old Singaporean Toh E-Yeong was sentenced in the Subordinate Courts yesterday on 10 charges of failing to pay his two FDWs' salaries punctually, as required under the Work Permit Conditions.
He also continued to employ his FDWs when their permits were revoked due to levy defaults.
The court proceeded on one charge for non-payment of salary and one charge for illegal employment against Toh, with the remaining charges taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
He was sentenced to a total fine of $4,170, or in default, 22 days' jail by the court.
Toh's maids, Jocelyn and Joessel, lodged complaints at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in July last year that their employer had not been paying them due salaries over many months.
Investigations revealed that Toh was aware of the salary condition imposed on him as an FDW employer. Investigations also found that Toh had not paid salaries amounting to $1,264.50 to Jocelyn for a period of nearly seven months from Sept 2010 to May 2011. Toh also failed to pay salaries amounting to $1,098.30 to Joessel for three months from Feb to May 2011.
The Work Permit Condition prescribes that the employer must pay the salary of his/her foreign employee not later than seven (7) days after the last day of the salary period.
Employers who fail to do so commit an offence under Section 22(1)(a) of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA), and shall be liable upon conviction, per month of late or unpaid salary, to a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or to both.
Apart from this, Toh also defaulted on his monthly FDW levy payments, which led to the revocation of the work permits of his two FDWs on June 2011.
However, he continued to hire the two, who were without valid work permits, to work for him from June 1-30, 2011 at his Woodlands residence. For illegally employing the two maids, Toh violated Section 5(1) of the EFMA and was charged accordingly.
Employers who commit an offence under Section 5(1) of the EFMA shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of up to $15,000 or imprisonment of up to twelve months or to both.
Toh became the sixth FDW employer to be convicted this year, joining five other FDW employers who were earlier convicted by the court in the first half of 2012 for failing to pay their FDWs' salaries on time. The salary arrears amounted from $997 to $5,332.
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