Employment Law in Singapore: Recent Key Developments

For example, under section 11, all employees will be now able to terminate an employment contract without notice by giving payment in lieu of notice (when previously this was not the case: "However, it seems that the employee is, under common law, not entitled to terminate the contract of employment by payment of salary in lieu of notice" (per the Court of Appeal, Goh Chan Peng v Beyonics Technology Ltd [2017] SGCA 40 at [90])

 

The Employment Claims Tribunal will also be empowered to hear wrongful dismissal and salary related claims. The dismissal cases that will be heard include not only those when the employee was terminated by the employer, but also cases when the employee resigned involuntarily - where the employee was forced to do so for wrongful reasons. For example, an employer may make work conditions unreasonably difficult, to force the employee to resign so as to deprive him of his employment benefits, and to mask the employer's wrongful behaviour.

 

This seminar will examine these new changes, with a particular focus on areas where employers may face new exposure or risks which they previously did not encounter.

 

Separately, the seminar will deal with workplace harassment, a recent issue that has assumed importance and relevance with the rising number of incidents in the workplace. Workplace harassment incidents, and examples of how to deal with them, will be examined through role-play and interactive scenarios.