THE STATUTES OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

EMPLOYMENT ACT 1968

2020 REVISED EDITION

This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and

including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021.

Prepared and Published by

THE LAW REVISION COMMISSION
UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF
THE REVISED EDITION OF THE LAWS ACT 1983

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 2020 Ed.

Employment Act 1968

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Section
1. Short title
2. Interpretation
3. Appointment of officers
4. Rules and orders
5. Minister may restrict application
6. Existing law not affected
7. [Repealed]

PART 2
CONTRACTS OF SERVICE
8. Illegal terms of contract of service
9. Termination of contract
10. Notice of termination of contract
11. Termination of contract without notice
12. Contractual age
13. When contract deemed to be broken by employer and employee
14. Dismissal
15. Termination by employee threatened by danger
16. Liability on breach of contract
17. Contract of service not to restrict rights of employees to join,
participate in or organise trade unions
18. Change of employer
18A. Transfer of employment
19. Offence

PART 3
PAYMENT OF SALARY
20. Fixation of salary period
20A. Computation of salary for incomplete month’s work
1

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 2
Section
21. Time of payment
22. Payment on dismissal
23. Payment on termination by employee
24. Income tax clearance
25. Payment to be made during working hours
26. No unauthorised deductions to be made
27. Authorised deductions
28. Deductions for absence
29. Deductions for damages or loss
30. Deductions for accommodation, amenity and service
31. Recovery of advances and loans
32. Deductions not to exceed prescribed limit
33. Priority of salary to other debts
34. Offence

PART 4
REST DAYS, HOURS OF WORK AND OTHER
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
35. Application of this Part to certain workmen and other employees
36. Rest day
37. Work on rest day
38. Hours of work
39. Task work
40. Shift workers, etc.
41. Interpretation of “week” for purposes of sections 36, 38 and 40
41A. Power to exempt
42. [Repealed]
43. [Repealed]
44. [Repealed]
45. Payment of retrenchment benefit
46. Retirement benefit
47. Priority of retirement benefits, etc.
48. Payment of annual wage supplement or other variable payment
49. Power of Minister to make recommendations for wage
adjustments
50. Interpretation for purposes of sections 48 and 49
51. [Repealed]
52. Power to suspend application of this Part
53. Offence

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

3 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 5
TRUCK SYSTEM
Section
54. Agreements to pay salary otherwise than in legal tender illegal
55. Agreements as to place and manner, etc., of spending salary
illegal
56. Salary to be paid entirely in legal tender
57. Recovery of salary not paid in legal tender
58. Interest on advances forbidden
59. Remuneration other than salary
60. Shops and canteens
61. Offence
62. [Repealed]
63. Payment of salary through bank
64. Limitations on application of this Part

PART 6
CONTRACTORS AND CONTRACTING
65. Liability of principals, contractors and subcontractors for salary
of workman
66. Registration of contractors and subcontractors

PART 6A
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES
66A. Part-time employees
66B. Minister may exclude or modify Act in relation to part-time
employees

PART 7
DOMESTIC WORKERS
67. Minister may apply Act to domestic workers

PART 8
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS
67A. Interpretation of this Part
68. Restriction on employment of children
69. Restriction on employment of young persons

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 4
Section
70. Conditions of employment
71. Minimum rates of salary may be prescribed
72. Approved employment
73. Regulations regulating employment
74. Offence
75. Power of Youth Court in respect of children or young persons
requiring care or protection

PART 9
MATERNITY PROTECTION AND BENEFITS
AND CHILDCARE LEAVE FOR PARENT
76. Length of benefit period
77. Payments to include holidays, etc.
78. When payment is to be made
79. Payment of benefit on death of female employee before
confinement
80. Notice of confinement
81. Dismissal during absence prohibited
82. Employment after confinement
83. Forfeiture of payment
84. Right to benefit unaffected by notice of dismissal given without
sufficient cause
84A. Right to benefit unaffected by notice of dismissal given on
ground of redundancy or by reason of reorganisation of
employer’s profession, business, trade or work
85. [Repealed]
86. Contracting out
87. Offences and penalties
87A. Childcare leave for parent

PART 10
HOLIDAY, ANNUAL LEAVE AND SICK
LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS
88. Holidays
88A. Annual leave
89. Sick leave
90. Offence

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

5 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 11
[REPEALED]
Section
91. [Repealed]
92. [Repealed]
93. [Repealed]
94. [Repealed]

PART 12
REGISTERS, RETURNS AND OTHER
DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS
95. Employers’ obligation in relation to employee records
95A. Employers’ obligation to give record of key employment terms
96. Employers’ obligation in relation to pay slips
96A. Employer’s obligation to furnish information on retrenchment of
employees
97. Returns
98. Commissioner may call for further returns
99. Power to call for returns, books, etc.
100. [Repealed]
101. Offence
102. Returns not to be published or disclosed

PART 13
INSPECTION AND ENQUIRY
103. Powers of Commissioner and inspecting officers
104. Notice to employer by Commissioner or inspecting officer of
inspection or visit
105. Power to arrest without warrant
105A. How to arrest
105B. No unnecessary restraint
105C. Search of persons arrested
105D. Inspecting officer to be armed
105E. Power to seize offensive weapons
105F. Power on escape to pursue and arrest
106. Inspecting officer not to reveal secrets
106A. Disposal of documents, articles, etc.
107. Offence

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 6
PART 14
GENERAL
Section
107A. Calculation of gross and basic rates of pay of employee
employed on monthly rate or piece rates
108. Wrongful detention of employee
109. Employee not answerable for debt, default or miscarriage of
another
110. Obstruction of employee by employer
111. Punishment for obstruction
112. Penalties
112A. Abetment of offences
113. Penalty for fraudulently inducing employee to emigrate
113A. Offences by bodies corporate, etc.
114. Power to compound offences

PART 15
CLAIMS, COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS
INTO OFFENCES
115. Commissioner’s power to inquire into complaints
116. Prohibiting order by Commissioner to third party
117. Right of appeal
118. Fees and enforcement of orders
119. Procedure for making and hearing claims
120. Representation before Commissioner
121. Joining of claims
122. Jurisdiction of courts not affected
123. No division of claims
124. Investigations of complaints and offences
125. Procedure after inquiry
126. Costs of proceedings

PART 15A
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES
126A. Civil contraventions
126B. Payment of administrative penalty
126C. Appeal, etc.
126D. Directions

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

7 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 16
PROCEDURE AND REGULATIONS
Section
127. Officers to be public servants
127A. Protection from personal liability
128. Place of employment deemed to be public place
129. Jurisdiction of Magistrates’ and District Courts
130. Right to hearing
131. Onus of proof
132. Civil proceedings not barred
133. Power to deal with evidence taken down by another officer
134. Application of fines
135. Imprisonment to be in discharge of fine, compensation, etc.
136. Recovery of money as fines
137. Service of requisitions and summons
138. Power to make reciprocal provisions with Malaysia for service,
execution and enforcement of summonses, warrants and orders
139. Power to make regulations
140. Amendment of Schedules
First Schedule — Workmen
Second Schedule — Registration fee
Third Schedule — Calculation of gross and basic rates of
pay of an employee employed on
a monthly rate or on piece rates
Fourth Schedule — Employee’s hourly basic rate of pay for
calculation of payment due for overtime
Fifth Schedule — Number of days on which a female
employee is entitled to absent herself
from work under section 76(1)(c)(ii)

An Act relating to employment.

[15 August 1968]

PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1. This Act is the Employment Act 1968.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 8
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“approved medical institution” means a hospital, clinic,
healthcare establishment or other medical institution which
the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, declares as an
approved medical institution;
“authorised officer” means any public officer appointed as an
authorised officer under section 3(2);
“basic rate of pay” means the total amount of money (including
wage adjustments and increments) to which an employee is
entitled under his or her contract of service either for working
for a period of time, that is, for one hour, one day, one week,
one month or for such other period as may be stated or
implied in his or her contract of service, or for each
completed piece or task of work but does not include —
(a) additional payments by way of overtime payments;
(b) additional payments by way of bonus payments or
annual wage supplements;
(c) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her
for special expenses incurred by him or her in the
course of his or her employment;
(d) productivity incentive payments; and
(e) any allowance however described;
“civil contravention” means a contravention that is declared to
be a civil contravention under section 126A;
“collective agreement” means an agreement as defined under the
Industrial Relations Act 1960;
“confinement” means the delivery of a child (including a
stillborn child);
“constructional contractor” means any person, firm, corporation
or company who or which is established for the purpose of
undertaking, either exclusively or in addition to or in
conjunction with any other business, any type of

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

9 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

constructional work, and who or which is carrying out the

constructional work for or on behalf of some other person
under a contract entered into by that person, firm, corporation
or company with such other person, and includes heirs,
executors, administrators, assigns and successors of that
person, firm, corporation or company;
“constructional work” means any building and civil engineering
work and includes repair, maintenance, alteration and
demolition work;
“contract of service” means any agreement, whether written or
oral, express or implied, whereby one person agrees to
employ another as an employee and that other agrees to serve
his or her employer as an employee and includes an
apprenticeship contract or agreement;
“contractor” means any person who contracts with a principal to
supply labour or to carry out the whole or any part of any
work undertaken by the principal in the course of or for the
purposes of the principal’s trade or business;
“day” means a period of 24 hours beginning at midnight;
“dependant” means any of the following members of an
employee’s family, namely, wife, husband, father, mother,
child and any adopted or illegitimate child living with or
dependent on the employee;
“dismiss” means to terminate the contract of service between an
employer and an employee at the employer’s initiative, with
or without notice and for cause or otherwise, and includes the
resignation of an employee if the employee can show, on a
balance of probabilities, that the employee did not resign
voluntarily but was forced to do so because of any conduct or
omission, or course of conduct or omissions, engaged in by
the employer;
“domestic worker” means any house, stable or garden servant or
motor car driver, employed in or in connection with the
domestic services of any private premises;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 10
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under
a contract of service with an employer and includes a
workman, and any officer or employee of the Government
included in a category, class or description of such officers or
employees declared by the President to be employees for the
purposes of this Act or any provision thereof, but does not
include any of the following:
(a) any seafarer;
(b) any domestic worker;
(c) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(d) any person belonging to any other class of persons
whom the Minister may, by notification in the
Gazette, declare not to be employees for the
purposes of this Act;
“employer” means any person who employs another person
under a contract of service and includes —
(a) the Government in respect of such categories, classes
or descriptions of officers or employees of the
Government as are declared by the President to be
employees for the purposes of this Act;
(b) any statutory authority;
(c) the duly authorised agent or manager of the
employer; and
(d) the person who owns or is carrying on or for the time
being responsible for the management of the
profession, business, trade or work in which the
employee is engaged;
“gross rate of pay” means the total amount of money including
allowances to which an employee is entitled under his or her
contract of service either for working for a period of time,
that is, for one hour, one day, one week, one month or for such
other period as may be stated or implied in his or her contract
of service, or for each completed piece or task of work but
does not include —

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

11 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(a) additional payments by way of overtime payments;

(b) additional payments by way of bonus payments or
annual wage supplements;
(c) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her
for special expenses incurred by him or her in the
course of his or her employment;
(d) productivity incentive payments; and
(e) travelling, food or housing allowances;
“hours of work” means the time during which an employee is at
the employer’s disposal and is not free to dispose of his or her
own time and movements exclusive of any intervals allowed
for rest and meals;
“industrial undertaking” means public and private undertakings
and any branch thereof, and includes particularly —
(a) mines, quarries and other works for the extraction of
minerals from the earth;
(b) undertakings in which articles are manufactured,
assembled, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented,
finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished,
or in which materials are transformed, including
undertakings engaged in shipbuilding, or in the
generation, transformation or transmission of
electricity or motive power of any kind;
(c) undertakings engaged in constructional work; and
(d) undertakings engaged in the transport of passengers
or goods by road, rail, sea, inland waterway or air,
including the handling of goods at docks, quays,
wharves, warehouses or airports;
“inspecting officer” means any person appointed as an
inspecting officer under section 3(2);
“machinery” includes all oil engines, gas engines, steam engines
and any other machines in which mechanical movement,
either linear or rotated or both, takes place, steam boilers, gas

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 12
cylinders, air receivers, steam receivers, steam containers,
cast iron underfired vulcanizers, refrigerating plants, pressure
receivers, all appliances for the transmission of power by
ropes, belts, chains, driving straps or bands or gearing,
electrical generators and electrical motors;
“mediation request” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the
Employment Claims Act 2016;
“medical officer” means —
(a) a medical practitioner employed by the Government
or an approved medical institution; or
(b) any other medical practitioner whom the Minister
declares, by notification in the Gazette, to be a
medical officer for the purposes of this Act;
“medical practitioner” means a medical practitioner registered
under the Medical Registration Act 1997, and includes a
dentist registered under the Dental Registration Act 1999;
“no-pay leave”, for an employee, means leave of absence
without pay granted by the employer at the request of the
employee;
“overtime” means the number of hours worked in any one day or
in any one week in excess of the limits specified in Part 4;
“place of employment” means any place provided by the
employer where work is carried on, for or on behalf of an
employer, by an employee;
“principal” means any person who, in the course of or for the
purposes of the person’s trade or business, contracts with a
contractor for the supply of labour or for the execution by the
contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by
the principal;
“productivity incentive payment” means a variable payment,
whether made annually or otherwise, to an employee as a
reward for —
(a) an improvement to the employee’s performance; or

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

13 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(b) an increase in the employee’s productivity or

contribution to the employer’s business, trade or
undertaking,
but does not include any payment which forms part of the
employee’s regular remuneration;
“quarters” means any building provided or intended to be
provided for a workman to live in either temporarily or
permanently, and includes any room or building used or
intended to be used whether communally or privately for the
purposes of cooking, eating, washing or bathing and any
latrines and urinals;
“salary” means all remuneration including allowances payable
to an employee in respect of work done under his or her
contract of service, but does not include —
(a) the value of any house accommodation, supply of
electricity, water, medical attendance, or other
amenity, or of any service excluded by general or
special order of the Minister published in the Gazette;
(b) any contribution paid by the employer on his or her
own account to any pension fund or provident fund;
(c) any travelling allowance or the value of any
travelling concession;
(d) any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her
for special expenses incurred by him or her in the
course of his or her employment;
(e) any gratuity payable on discharge or retirement; and
(f) any retrenchment benefit payable on retrenchment;
“seafarer” means any person, including the master, who is
employed or engaged or works in any capacity on board a
ship, but does not include —
(a) a pilot;
(b) a port worker;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 14
(c) a person temporarily employed on the ship during the
period it is in port; and
(d) a person who is employed or engaged or works in any
capacity on board a harbour craft or pleasure craft
licensed under regulations made under section 41 of
the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Act 1996, when the harbour craft or pleasure craft
is used within a port declared by the Minister under
section 3 of that Act;
“stillborn child” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the
Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021;
[Act 19 of 2021 wef 29/05/2022]

“subcontractor” means any person who contracts with a

contractor for the supply of labour or for the execution by
the subcontractor of the whole or any part of any work
undertaken by the contractor for the contractor’s principal,
and includes any person who contracts with a subcontractor
to supply labour or to carry out the whole or any part of any
work undertaken by the subcontractor for a contractor;
“subcontractor for labour” means any person who contracts with
a contractor or subcontractor to supply the labour required for
the execution of the whole or any part of any work a
contractor or subcontractor has contracted to carry out for a
principal or contractor, as the case may be;
“Tribunal” means an Employment Claims Tribunal constituted
under section 4 of the State Courts Act 1970;
“wages” means salary;
“week” means a continuous period of 7 days;
“workman” means —
(a) any person, skilled or unskilled, who has entered into
a contract of service with an employer pursuant to
which he or she is engaged in manual labour,
including any artisan or apprentice, but excluding
any seafarer or domestic worker;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

15 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(b) any person, other than clerical staff, employed in the

operation or maintenance of mechanically-propelled
vehicles used for the transport of passengers for hire
or for commercial purposes;
(c) any person employed partly for manual labour and
partly for the purpose of supervising in person any
workman in and throughout the performance of his or
her work:
Provided that when any person is employed by any
one employer partly as a workman and partly in some other
capacity or capacities, that person is deemed to be a
workman unless it can be established that the time during
which that workman has been required to work as a
workman in any one salary period as defined in Part 3 has
on no occasion amounted to or exceeded one-half of the
total time during which that person has been required to
work in such salary period;
(d) any person specified in the First Schedule; or
(e) any person whom the Minister may, by notification in
the Gazette, declare to be a workman for the purposes
of this Act.
[6/2014; 27/2015; 21/2016; 55/2018; 19/2021]

(2) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]

Appointment of officers
3.—(1) The Minister may appoint an officer as the Commissioner
for Labour (called in this Act the Commissioner) and also one or
more officers as Deputy Commissioner for Labour, Principal
Assistant Commissioner for Labour or Assistant Commissioner for
Labour, who, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed, may
perform all duties imposed and exercise all powers conferred on the
Commissioner by this Act, and every duty so performed and power so
exercised is deemed to have been duly performed and exercised for
the purposes of this Act.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 16
(2) The Minister may appoint such number of authorised officers,
inspecting officers and other officers as the Minister may consider
necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act.
[27/2015]

(3) The Commissioner may in writing appoint an individual (who

may or may not be a public officer) as an authorised person for the
purpose of carrying out any function or duty of the Commissioner
under this Act or any other written law relating to employment,
employment terms or the relations between employers and
employees.
[21/2016]

(4) The Commissioner must, in writing, issue to each authorised

person an authorisation specifying —
(a) the functions and duties of the Commissioner that the
authorised person is authorised to carry out;
(b) the powers of the Commissioner that the authorised person
is authorised to exercise;
(c) the conditions of the authorisation; and
(d) the limitations to which the authorisation is subject.
[21/2016]

Rules and orders

4. The Minister may make rules and orders for the conduct of the
duties of officers under this Act.

Minister may restrict application

5. The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare that this
Act or any Part or provisions thereof does not apply to any premises
or class of premises specified in the notification.

Existing law not affected

6. Nothing in this Act operates to relieve any employer of any duty
or liability imposed upon the employer by any other written law for
the time being in force or to limit any powers given to any public
officer by any other written law.
7. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

17 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 2
CONTRACTS OF SERVICE
Illegal terms of contract of service
8. Every term of a contract of service which provides a condition of
service which is less favourable to an employee than any of the
conditions of service prescribed by this Act is illegal and void to the
extent that it is so less favourable.

Termination of contract
9.—(1) A contract of service for a specified piece of work or for a
specified period of time, unless otherwise terminated in accordance
with the provisions of this Part, terminates when the work specified in
the contract is completed or the period of time for which the contract
was made has expired.
(2) A contract of service for an unspecified period of time is
deemed to run until terminated by either party in accordance with the
provisions of this Part.

Notice of termination of contract

10.—(1) Either party to a contract of service may at any time give to
the other party notice of the firstmentioned party’s intention to
terminate the contract of service.
(2) The length of the notice must be the same for both employer and
employee and is to be determined by any provision made for the
notice in the terms of the contract of service, or, in the absence of such
provision, must be in accordance with subsection (3).
(3) The notice to terminate the service of a person who is employed
under a contract of service must be at least —
(a) one day’s notice if the person has been so employed for less
than 26 weeks;
(b) one week’s notice if the person has been so employed for
26 weeks or more but less than 2 years;
(c) 2 weeks’ notice if the person has been so employed for
2 years or more but less than 5 years; and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 18
(d) 4 weeks’ notice if the person has been so employed for
5 years or more.
(4) This section does not prevent either party from waiving that
party’s right to notice on any occasion.
(5) The notice must be written and may be given at any time, and
the day on which the notice is given is included in the period of the
notice.

Termination of contract without notice

11.—(1) Either party to a contract of service may terminate the
contract of service without notice or, if notice has already been given
in accordance with section 10, without waiting for the expiry of that
notice, by paying to the other party a sum equal to the amount of
salary at the gross rate of pay which would have accrued to the
employee during the period of the notice and in the case of a
monthly-rated employee where the period of the notice is less than a
month, the amount payable for any one day is the gross rate of pay for
one day’s work.
(2) Either party to a contract of service may terminate the contract
of service without notice in the event of any wilful breach by the other
party of a condition of the contract of service.

Contractual age
12.—(1) Despite any other written law, a person below 18 years of
age is, subject to the provisions of this Act, competent to enter into a
contract of service.
(2) No contract of service as an employee is enforceable against a
person below 18 years of age and no damages or indemnity are
recoverable from that person in respect of the contract of service
unless it is for his or her benefit.

When contract deemed to be broken by employer and

employee
13.—(1) An employer is deemed to have broken the employer’s
contract of service with the employee if the employer fails to pay
salary in accordance with Part 3.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

19 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(2) An employee is deemed to have broken the employee’s contract

of service with the employer if the employee is absent from work for
more than 2 days continuously without prior leave from the employer
and —
(a) the employee has no reasonable excuse for the absence; or
(b) the employee does not inform and does not attempt to
inform the employer of the excuse for the absence.
[27/2015]

Dismissal
14.—(1) An employer may after due inquiry dismiss without notice
an employee employed by the employer on the grounds of
misconduct inconsistent with the fulfilment of the express or
implied conditions of the employee’s service, except that instead of
dismissing an employee an employer may —
(a) instantly down-grade the employee; or
(b) instantly suspend the employee from work without
payment of salary for a period not exceeding one week.
[26/2013]

(2) Despite subsection (1), but subject to section 3 of the

Employment Claims Act 2016, where a relevant employee
considers that he or she has been dismissed without just cause or
excuse by his or her employer, the employee may lodge a claim,
under section 13 of that Act, for either of the following remedies:
(a) reinstatement in the employee’s former employment;
(b) compensation.
[55/2018]

(2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), a relevant employee

means —
(a) an employee employed in a managerial or an executive
position —
(i) who is dismissed with notice; or
(ii) who is dismissed without notice but receives
payment of any salary in lieu of notice,

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 20
after having served that employer for at least 6 months in
any position (whether or not a managerial or an executive
position);
(b) an employee employed in a managerial or an executive
position who is dismissed without notice and without
salary in lieu of such notice; or
(c) an employee not employed in a managerial or an executive
position.
[26/2013; 55/2018]

(3) If a Tribunal hearing the claim is satisfied that the employee has
been dismissed without just cause or excuse, the Tribunal may,
despite any rule of law or agreement to the contrary —
(a) in a claim for reinstatement of the employee in his or her
former employment, direct the employer —
(i) to reinstate the employee in the employee’s former
employment; and
(ii) to pay the employee an amount equivalent to the
wages that the employee would have earned, if the
employee had not been dismissed; or
(b) in a claim for compensation, direct the employer to pay, as
compensation to the employee, an amount of wages
determined by the Tribunal.
[55/2018]

(4) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]

(5) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(6) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(7) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(7A) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(8) For the purposes of an inquiry under subsection (1), the
employer —
(a) may suspend the employee from work for —
(i) a period not exceeding one week; or

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

21 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(ii) such longer period as the Commissioner may

determine on an application by the employer; but
(b) must pay the employee at least half the employee’s salary
during the period the employee is suspended from work.
[55/2018]

(9) If the inquiry does not disclose any misconduct on the

employee’s part, the employer must immediately restore to the
employee the full amount of the salary so withheld.

Termination by employee threatened by danger

15. An employee may terminate his or her contract of service with
his or her employer without notice where the employee or the
employee’s dependant is immediately threatened by danger to the
person by violence or disease that the employee did not by his or her
contract of service undertake to run.

Liability on breach of contract

16. Subject to anything in the contract of service to the contrary, the
party who breaks the contract of service is liable to pay to the other
party a sum equal to the amount the firstmentioned party would have
been liable to pay under section 11 had the firstmentioned party
terminated the contract of service without notice or with insufficient
notice.

Contract of service not to restrict rights of employees to join,

participate in or organise trade unions
17. Subject to any other written law for the time being in force,
nothing in any contract of service restricts, in any way, the right of
any employee who is a party to such contract —
(a) to join a registered trade union;
(b) to participate in the activities of a registered trade union,
whether as an officer of the trade union or otherwise; or
(c) to associate with any other persons for the purpose of
organising a trade union in accordance with the provisions
of the Trade Unions Act 1940.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 22
Change of employer
18.—(1) If by or under any written law a contract of employment
between any body corporate and an employee is modified and some
other body corporate is substituted as the employer, the employee’s
period of employment at the time when the modification takes effect
counts as a period of employment with that other body corporate, and
the change of employer does not break the continuity of the period of
employment.
(2) If on an employer’s death the employee is taken into the
employment of the personal representatives or trustees of the
deceased, the employee’s period of employment at the time of the
death counts as a period of employment with the employer’s personal
representatives or trustees, and the death of the employer does not
break the continuity of the period of employment.
(3) If there is a change in the partners, personal representatives or
trustees who employ any person, the employee’s period of
employment at the time of the change counts as a period of
employment with the partners, personal representatives or trustees
after the change, and the change does not break the continuity of the
period of employment.

Transfer of employment
18A.—(1) If an undertaking (whether or not it is an undertaking
established by or under any written law) or part thereof is transferred
from one person to another —
(a) such transfer does not operate to terminate the contract of
service of any person employed by the transferor in the
undertaking or part transferred but such contract of service
has effect after the transfer as if originally made between
the person so employed and the transferee; and
(b) the period of employment of an employee in the
undertaking or part transferred at the time of transfer
counts as a period of employment with the transferee, and
the transfer does not break the continuity of the period of
employment.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

23 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(2) Without affecting subsection (1), on completion of a transfer

referred to in that subsection —
(a) all the transferor’s rights, powers, duties and liabilities
under or in connection with any such contract of service
are transferred by virtue of this section to the transferee;
(b) any act or omission done before the transfer by the
transferor in respect of that contract of service is deemed to
have been done by the transferee; and
(c) any act or omission done before the transfer by an
employee employed in the undertaking or part
transferred in relation to the transferor is deemed to have
been done in relation to the transferee.
(3) On the completion of a transfer mentioned in subsection (1), it is
declared for the avoidance of doubt that the terms and conditions of
service of an employee whose contract of service is preserved under
that subsection are the same as those enjoyed by the employee
immediately prior to the transfer.
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not transfer or otherwise affect the
liability of any person to be prosecuted for, convicted of and
sentenced for any offence.
(5) As soon as it is reasonable and before a transfer under
subsection (1) takes place, to enable consultations to take place
between the transferor and the affected employees and between the
transferor and a trade union of affected employees (if any), the
transferor must notify the affected employees and the trade union of
affected employees (if any) of —
(a) the fact that the transfer is to take place, the approximate
date on which it is to take place and the reasons for it;
(b) the implications of the transfer and the measures that the
transferor envisages taking, in connection with the transfer,
in relation to the affected employees or, if the transferor
envisages that no measures will be so taken, that fact; and
(c) the measures that the transferee envisages the transferee
will, in connection with the transfer, take in relation to such

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 24
of those employees as, by virtue of subsection (1), become
employees of the transferee after the transfer or, if the
transferee envisages that no measures will be so taken, that
fact.
(6) As soon as it is reasonable, the transferee must give the
transferor such information so as to enable the transferor to perform
the duty imposed on the transferor by virtue of subsection (5)(c).
(7) Where the Commissioner considers that there has been an
inordinate delay —
(a) by the transferor in notifying the affected employees or a
trade union of affected employees of the matters set out in
subsection (5); or
(b) by the transferee in notifying the transferor of the
information set out in subsection (6),
the Commissioner may, by written notice, direct the transferor to
comply with subsection (5) or the transferee to comply with
subsection (6) (as the case may be) within such time as may be
specified in the notice.
(8) Where, immediately before a transfer referred to in
subsection (1), a trade union is recognised by the transferor for the
purposes of the Industrial Relations Act 1960 in respect of any
employee who in consequence of the transfer becomes the employee
of the transferee, the trade union, after the transfer —
(a) is deemed to be recognised by the transferee for the
purposes of the Industrial Relations Act 1960 if, after the
transfer, the majority of employees employed by the
transferee are members of the trade union; or
(b) in any other case, is deemed to be recognised by the
transferee only for the purpose of representing the
employee on any dispute arising —
(i) from any collective agreement that was entered into
between the transferor and the trade union while the
collective agreement remains in force; or

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

25 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(ii) from the transfer of the employee’s employment

from the transferor to the transferee under this
section.
(8A) For the purposes of subsection (8)(b), any collective
agreement that was entered into between the transferor and the
trade union of the affected employees and in force immediately
before the transfer continues in force between the transferee and the
trade union of the affected employees for a period of 18 months after
the date of the transfer or until the date of its expiry as specified in the
collective agreement, whichever is the later.
[26/2013]

(9) A dispute or disagreement between the transferor and an

employee or the transferee and an employee arising from a transfer
under subsection (1), whether before or after the transfer, may be
referred by a party to the dispute or disagreement to the
Commissioner under section 115 and is deemed to be a dispute to
which that section applies.
(10) Where a dispute or disagreement has been referred to the
Commissioner pursuant to subsection (9), the Commissioner has, in
addition to the powers conferred under section 115, the powers —
(a) to delay or prohibit the transfer of employment of the
employee to the dispute from the transferor to the
transferee under subsection (1); and
(b) to order that the transfer of employment of the employee to
the dispute from the transferor to the transferee under
subsection (1) be subject to any terms that the
Commissioner considers just.
(11) The Minister may make regulations that the Minister considers
necessary or expedient to give effect to the provisions of this section
and, in particular, may make regulations —
(a) to provide for the form and manner of consultations
between the transferor and the affected employees and
between the transferor and a trade union of affected
employees under subsection (5);

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 26
(b) for the type of information that must be communicated by
the transferor to the affected employees and to a trade
union of affected employees under subsection (5), or by the
transferee to the transferor under subsection (6); and
(c) to provide for a mechanism for conciliation of disputes
arising out of or relating to a transfer mentioned in
subsection (1) between any employer and employee.
(12) Nothing in this section prevents a transferee of an undertaking
referred to in subsection (1) and an employee whose contract of
service is preserved under that subsection or a trade union
representing such an employee from negotiating for and agreeing
to terms of service different from those contained in the contract of
service that is preserved under that subsection.
(13) In this section —
“affected employee” means any employee of the transferor who
may be affected by a transfer under subsection (1) or may be
affected by the measures taken in connection with such a
transfer;
“trade union” means a trade union which has been —
(a) registered under any written law for the time being in
force relating to the registration of trade unions; and
(b) accorded recognition by the employer pursuant to
section 17(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1960;
“transfer” includes the disposition of a business as a going
concern and a transfer effected by sale, amalgamation,
merger, reconstruction or operation of law;
“undertaking” includes any trade or business.

Offence
19. Any employer who enters into a contract of service or collective
agreement contrary to the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an
offence.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

27 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 3
PAYMENT OF SALARY
Fixation of salary period
20.—(1) An employer may fix periods (called for the purpose of
this Act salary periods) in respect of which salary earned is payable.
(2) A salary period must not exceed one month.
(3) In the absence of a salary period so fixed, the salary period is
deemed to be one month.

Computation of salary for incomplete month’s work

20A.—(1) If a monthly-rated employee has not completed a whole
month of service because —
(a) he or she commenced employment after the first day of the
month;
(b) his or her employment was terminated before the end of the
month;
(c) he or she took leave of absence without pay for one or more
days of the month; or
(d) he or she took leave of absence to perform his or her
national service under the Enlistment Act 1970,
the salary due to him or her for that month is to be calculated in
accordance with the following formula:
Monthly gross rate of pay
Number of days the employee
Number of days on which the
x actually worked in that month.
employee is required to work
in that month

(2) In calculating the number of days actually worked by an

employee in a month under subsection (1), any day on which an
employee is required to work for 5 hours or less under his or her
contract of service is regarded as half a day.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 28
Time of payment
21.—(1) Salary earned by an employee under a contract of service,
other than additional payments for overtime work, must be paid
before the expiry of the 7th day after the last day of the salary period
in respect of which the salary is payable.
(2) Additional payments for overtime work must be paid not later
than 14 days after the last day of the salary period during which the
overtime work was performed.
(3) The total salary due to an employee on completion of his or her
contract of service must be paid to him or her on completion of the
contract.

Payment on dismissal
22. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary and any
sum due to an employee who has been dismissed must be paid on the
day of dismissal or, if this is not possible, within 3 days thereafter, not
being a rest day or public holiday or other holiday.
[32/2008]

Payment on termination by employee

23.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to
an employee who terminates his or her contract of service with his or
her employer under section 11, or after giving due notice to the
employer as required under section 10, must be paid to the employee
on the day on which the contract of service is terminated.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to an
employee who terminates his or her contract of service without giving
prior notice to his or her employer as required under section 10, or, if
notice has already been given under that section, but the employee
terminates his or her contract of service without waiting for the expiry
of the notice, must be paid to the employee before the expiry of the
7th day after the day on which the employee terminates his or her
contract of service.
(3) The employer may, subject to any order made by a court or the
Commissioner to the contrary, deduct from the salary due to the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

29 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

employee such sum as the employee is liable to pay in lieu of prior

notice under section 11(1).

Income tax clearance

24.—(1) Despite sections 22 and 23, no payment of salary or any
other sum due to an employee on termination of service is to be made
to the employee by the employer without the permission of the
Comptroller of Income Tax under section 68(7) of the Income Tax
Act 1947.
[32/2008]

(2) The employer must immediately give notice of the termination

of service to the Comptroller of Income Tax and the payment of the
salary or other sum due to the employee must not be delayed more
than 30 days after the notice has been given to and received by the
Comptroller of Income Tax.
[32/2008]

Payment to be made during working hours

25.—(1) Payment of salary must be made on a working day and
during working hours at the place of work or at any other place agreed
to between the employer and the employee.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the salary is paid into an
account with a bank in Singapore, being an account in the name of the
employee or an account in the name of the employee jointly with one
or more other persons.

No unauthorised deductions to be made

26. No deduction is to be made by an employer from the salary of
an employee, unless the deduction is authorised by or under any
provision of this Act or is required to be made —
(a) by order of a court or other authority competent to make
such order;
(b) pursuant to a declaration made by the Comptroller of
Income Tax under section 57 of the Income Tax Act 1947,
the Comptroller of Property Tax under section 38 of the
Property Tax Act 1960 or the Comptroller of Goods and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 30
Services Tax under section 79 of the Goods and Services
Tax Act 1993 that the employer is an agent for recovery of
income tax, property tax or goods and services tax (as the
case may be) payable by the employee; or
(c) pursuant to a direction given by the Comptroller of Income
Tax under section 91 of the Income Tax Act 1947.
[26/2013]

Authorised deductions
27.—(1) The following deductions may be made from the salary of
an employee:
(a) deductions for absence from work;
(b) deductions for damage to or loss of goods expressly
entrusted to an employee for custody or for loss of money
for which an employee is required to account, where the
damage or loss is directly attributable to the employee’s
neglect or default;
(c) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(d) deductions made with the employee’s written consent for
house accommodation supplied by the employer;
(e) deductions made with the employee’s written consent for
such amenities and services supplied by the employer as
the Commissioner may authorise;
(f) any deduction for the recovery of any advance, loan or
unearned employment benefit, or for the adjustment of any
overpayment of salary;
(g) [Deleted by Act 26 of 2013]
(h) deductions of contributions payable by an employer on
behalf of an employee under and in accordance with the
provisions of the Central Provident Fund Act 1953;
(i) any deduction (other than a deduction mentioned in
paragraphs (a) to (h), (j) and (k)) made with the
employee’s written consent;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

31 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(j) deductions made with the employee’s written consent and

paid by the employer to any cooperative society registered
under any written law for the time being in force in respect
of subscriptions, entrance fees, instalments of loans,
interest and other dues payable by the employee to such
society;
(k) any other prescribed deductions.
[26/2013; 55/2018]

(1A) An employee’s written consent for any deduction mentioned

in subsection (1)(d), (e), (i) or (j) may be withdrawn by the employee
giving written notice of the withdrawal to the employer at any time
before the deduction is made.
[55/2018]

(1B) An employee cannot be penalised for withdrawing a written

consent for any deduction mentioned in subsection (1)(d), (e), (i)
or (j).
[55/2018]

(2) In subsection (1)(e), “services” does not include the supply of

tools and raw materials required for the purposes of employment.
(3) In subsection (1)(f), “employment benefit” —
(a) means any benefit that an employee derives from being
employed, other than salary; and
(b) includes (but is not limited to) benefits such as the
following:
(i) any annual leave in excess of the annual leave to
which the employee is entitled under section 88A;
(ii) any flexible employment benefit (such as an
allowance that can be utilised, at the employee’s
discretion, for any of certain purposes specified in
the employee’s contract of service).
[55/2018]

Deductions for absence

28.—(1) Deductions may be made under section 27(1)(a) only on
account of the absence of an employee from the place where, by the
terms of his or her employment, he or she is required to work, the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 32
absence being for the whole or any part of the period during which he
or she is so required to work.
(2) The amount of any deduction referred to in subsection (1) must
not bear a larger proportion to the salary payable at the gross rate of
pay to the employee in respect of the salary period for which the
deduction is made than the proportion the period for which the
employee was absent bears to the total period within such salary
period during which the employee was required to work by the terms
of his or her employment; and in the case of a monthly-rated
employee the amount of deduction in respect of any one day is the
gross rate of pay for one day’s work.
(3) If any employee absents himself or herself from work otherwise
than as provided by this Act or by his or her contract of service, the
employer may, subject to any order which may be made by a court or
by the Commissioner on complaint of either party, deduct from any
salary due to the employee the cost of food supplied to him or her
during his or her absence.

Deductions for damages or loss

29.—(1) A deduction under section 27(1)(b) must not exceed the
amount of the damages or loss caused to the employer by the neglect
or default of the employee and, except with the Commissioner’s
permission, must not in any case exceed one-quarter (or such other
proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of one month’s
wages and must not be made until the employee has been given an
opportunity of showing cause against the deduction.
[26/2013]

(2) All such deductions and all realisations thereof must be

recorded in a register to be kept by the employer in such form as
may be prescribed.

Deductions for accommodation, amenity and service

30.—(1) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
(2) Any deduction under section 27(1)(d) or (e) must not exceed an
amount equivalent to the value of the house accommodation, amenity
or service supplied, and the total amount of all deductions under

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

33 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

section 27(1)(d) and (e) made from an employee’s salary by his or her
employer in any one salary period must not in any case exceed
one-quarter (or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the
Minister) of the salary payable to the employee in respect of that
period.
[26/2013]

(3) In the case of a deduction under section 27(1)(e), the deduction

is subject to such conditions as the Commissioner may impose.
[26/2013]

Recovery of advances and loans

31.—(1) The recovery of an advance of money made to an
employee before the commencement of a contract of service is to
begin from the first payment of salary in respect of a completed salary
period, but no recovery may be made of any such advance made for
travelling expenses.
(2) Advances may be recovered in instalments by deductions from
salary spread over not more than 12 months.
(3) An instalment under subsection (2) must not exceed one-quarter
(or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister)
of the salary due for the salary period in respect of which the
deduction is made.
[26/2013]

(4) Loans may be recovered in instalments by deductions from

salary.
(5) An instalment under subsection (4) must not exceed one-quarter
(or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister)
of the salary due for the salary period in respect of which the
deduction is made.
[26/2013]

Deductions not to exceed prescribed limit

32.—(1) The total amount of all deductions made from an
employee’s salary by an employer in any one salary period, other
than deductions under section 27(1)(a), (f) or (j), must not exceed
50% (or such other percentage prescribed in substitution by the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 34
Minister) of the salary payable to the employee in respect of that
period.
[26/2013]

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to deductions made from the last
salary due to an employee on termination of his or her contract of
service or on completion of his or her contract of service.

Priority of salary to other debts

33.—(1) This section applies —
(a) to workmen who are in receipt of a salary not exceeding
$4,500 a month (excluding overtime payments, bonus
payments, annual wage supplements, productivity
incentive payments and any allowance however
described) or such other amount as the Minister may
prescribe; and
(b) to every employee (other than a workman or a person
employed in a managerial or an executive position) who
receives a salary not exceeding $2,600 a month (excluding
any overtime payment, bonus payment, annual wage
supplement, productivity incentive payment and any
allowance however described) or such other amount as
the Minister may prescribe.
[26/2013; 55/2018]

(2) When, on the application of a person holding a mortgage,

charge or lien or of a person who has obtained a judgment or decree,
the property of an employer is sold, or any money due to the employer
is garnished, the court ordering the sale or garnishment must not
distribute the proceeds of the sale or the money to the person entitled
thereto unless the court has ascertained and paid the salary due to all
the employees employed by that employer and to all employees
engaged by a contractor or subcontractor and working for that
employer.
(3) This section applies only —
(a) to property on which those employees were or are working;
(b) where the property sold was or is the produce of the work
of those employees;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

35 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(c) where the property sold is movable property used or being

used by those employees in the course of their work; or
(d) to money due to the employer in respect of work done by
those employees.
(4) The amount payable to each such employee under
subsection (2) must not exceed 5 months’ salary.
(5) [Deleted by Act 21 of 2016]
(6) [Deleted by Act 21 of 2016]
(7) In this section, “employees” is deemed to include
subcontractors for labour and “salary” is deemed to include money
due to a subcontractor for labour.

Offence
34.—(1) Any employer who fails to pay salary in accordance with
the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an offence.
[26/2013]

(2) Any employer who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1)

for contravening section 21, 22 or 23 shall be liable on conviction —
(a) to a fine of not less than $3,000 and not more than $15,000
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to
both; and
(b) if the employer is a repeat offender, to a fine of not less
than $6,000 and not more than $30,000 or to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
[26/2013]

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), a person is a repeat offender

in relation to an offence under subsection (1) if the person who is
convicted or found guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of
contravening section 21, 22 or 23 (called the current offence) has
been convicted or found guilty of an offence of contravening
section 21, 22 or 23 on at least one other occasion (whether before, on
or after 1 April 2014) before the date on which the person is convicted
or found guilty of the current offence.
[26/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 36
PART 4
REST DAYS, HOURS OF WORK AND OTHER
CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
Application of this Part to certain workmen and other
employees
35. The provisions of this Part apply —
(a) to workmen who are in receipt of a salary not exceeding
$4,500 a month (excluding overtime payments, bonus
payments, annual wage supplements, productivity
incentive payments and any allowance however
described) or such other amount as the Minister may
prescribe; and
(b) to every employee (other than a workman or a person
employed in a managerial or an executive position) who
receives a salary not exceeding $2,600 a month (excluding
any overtime payment, bonus payment, annual wage
supplement, productivity incentive payment and any
allowance however described) or such other amount as
the Minister may prescribe.
[26/2013; 55/2018]

Rest day
36.—(1) Every employee must be allowed in each week a rest day
without pay of one whole day which must be Sunday or such other
day as the employer may determine from time to time.
(2) The employer may substitute any continuous period of 30 hours
as a rest day for an employee engaged in shift work.
(3) Where in any week a continuous period of 30 hours
commencing at any time before 6 p.m. on a Sunday is substituted
as a rest day for an employee engaged in shift work, the rest day is
deemed to have been granted within the week even though the period
of 30 hours ends after the week.
(4) Where an employee’s rest day is determined by his or her
employer, the employer must prepare or cause to be prepared a roster
before the commencement of the month in which the rest days fall

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

37 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

informing the employee of the days appointed to be his or her rest

days in the month.

Work on rest day

37.—(1) Subject to section 38(2) or 40(2A), an employee must not
be compelled to work on a rest day unless he or she is engaged in
work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on
continuously by a succession of shifts.
(1A) In the event of any dispute, the Commissioner has power to
decide whether or not an employee is engaged in work which by
reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously by a
succession of shifts.
(2) An employee who at his or her own request works for an
employer on a rest day must be paid for that day —
(a) if the period of work does not exceed half the employee’s
normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for half
a day’s work;
(b) if the period of work is more than half but does not exceed
the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic
rate of pay for one day’s work; or
(c) if the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours
of work for one day —
(i) a sum at the basic rate of pay for one day’s work; and
(ii) a sum at the rate of not less than one and a half times
the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay for each hour
or part thereof that the period of work exceeds the
employee’s normal hours of work for one day.
(3) An employee who at the request of his or her employer works on
a rest day must be paid for that day —
(a) if the period of work does not exceed half the employee’s
normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for one
day’s work;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 38
(b) if the period of work is more than half but does not exceed
the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic
rate of pay for 2 days’ work; or
(c) if the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours
of work for one day —
(i) a sum at the basic rate of pay for 2 days’ work; and
(ii) a sum at the rate of not less than one and a half times
the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay for each hour
or part thereof that the period of work exceeds the
employee’s normal hours of work for one day.
(3A) In this section —
(a) “normal hours of work” means the number of hours of
work (not exceeding the limits applicable to an employee
under section 38 or 40, as the case may be) that is agreed
between an employer and an employee to be the usual
hours of work per day; or in the absence of any such
agreement, is deemed to be 8 hours a day; and
(b) an employee’s “hourly basic rate of pay” is to be calculated
in the same manner as for the purpose of calculating
payment due to an employee under section 38 for working
overtime.
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply to any employee who is employed
by the Government or a statutory body in any of the essential services
as defined under Part 3 of the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions)
Act 1955, but any such employee who at the request of his or her
employer works on a rest day or part thereof must be given a day or
part of a day off (as the case may be) in substitution for such a rest day
or part thereof.

Hours of work
38.—(1) Except as hereinafter provided, an employee must not be
required under his or her contract of service to work —
(a) more than 6 consecutive hours without a period of leisure;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

39 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(b) more than 8 hours in one day or more than 44 hours in one
week:
Provided that —
(c) an employee who is engaged in work which must be
carried on continuously may be required to work for
8 consecutive hours inclusive of a period or periods of not
less than 45 minutes in the aggregate during which he or
she must have the opportunity to have a meal;
(d) where, by agreement under the contract of service between
the employee and the employer, the number of hours of
work on one or more days of the week is less than 8, the
limit of 8 hours in one day may be exceeded on the
remaining days of the week, but so that no employee is
required to work for more than 9 hours in one day or
44 hours in one week;
(e) where, by agreement under the contract of service between
the employee and the employer, the number of days on
which the employee is required to work in a week is not
more than 5 days, the limit of 8 hours in one day may be
exceeded but so that no employee is required to work more
than 9 hours in one day or 44 hours in one week; and
(f) where, by agreement under the contract of service between
the employee and the employer, the number of hours of
work in every alternate week is less than 44, the limit of
44 hours in one week may be exceeded in the other week,
but so that no employee is required to work for more than
48 hours in one week or for more than 88 hours in any
continuous period of 2 weeks.
(2) An employee may be required by his or her employer to exceed
the limit of hours prescribed in subsection (1) and to work on a rest
day, in the case of —
(a) accident, actual or threatened;
(b) work, the performance of which is essential to the life of
the community;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 40
(c) work essential for defence or security;
(d) urgent work to be done to machinery or plant;
(e) an interruption of work which it was impossible to foresee;
or
(f) work to be performed by employees in any industrial
undertaking essential to the economy of Singapore or any
of the essential services as defined under Part 3 of the
Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act 1955.
(3) In the event of any dispute, the Commissioner has power to
decide whether or not the employer is justified in calling upon the
employee to work in the circumstances specified in subsection (2)(f).
(4) If an employee at the request of the employer works —
(a) more than 8 hours in one day except as provided in
paragraphs (d) and (e) of the proviso to subsection (1), or
more than 9 hours in one day in any case specified in those
paragraphs; or
(b) more than 44 hours in one week except as provided in
paragraph (f) of the proviso to subsection (1), or more than
48 hours in any one week or more than 88 hours in any
continuous period of 2 weeks in any case specified in that
paragraph,
the employee must be paid for the extra work at the rate of not less
than one and a half times the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay
irrespective of the basis on which the employee’s rate of pay is fixed.
(5) An employee must not be permitted to work overtime for more
than 72 hours a month.
(6) For the purpose of calculating under subsection (4) the payment
due for overtime to an employee referred to in the first column of the
Fourth Schedule, the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay is to be
determined in accordance with the second column of the
Fourth Schedule.
[26/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

41 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(7) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of

calculating the payment due for overtime to an employee employed
on piece rates.
(8) Except in the circumstances described in subsection (2)(a), (b),
(c), (d) and (e), an employee must not under any circumstances work
for more than 12 hours in any one day.
(9) This section does not apply to employees engaged in the fire
services or in work which by its nature involves long hours of inactive
or stand-by employment.

Task work
39. Nothing in this Part prevents any employer from agreeing with
any employee that the employee’s salary be paid at an agreed rate in
accordance with the task, that is, the specific amount of work required
to be performed, and not by the day or by the piece.

Shift workers, etc.

40.—(1) Despite section 38(1), an employee who is engaged under
his or her contract of service in regular shift work or who has
otherwise consented in writing to work in accordance with the hours
of work specified in this section may be required to work more than
6 consecutive hours, more than 8 hours in any one day or more than
44 hours in any one week but the average number of hours worked
over any continuous period of 3 weeks must not exceed 44 hours per
week.
(2) No consent given by an employee under this section is valid
unless this section and section 38 have been explained to the
employee and the employee has been informed of the times at which
the hours of work begin and end, the number of working days in each
week and the weekly rest day.
(2A) An employee to whom this section applies may be required by
his or her employer to exceed the limit of hours prescribed in
subsection (1) and to work on a rest day, in the case of —
(a) accident, actual or threatened;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 42
(b) work, the performance of which is essential to the life of
the community;
(c) work essential for defence or security;
(d) urgent work to be done to machinery or plant;
(e) an interruption of work which it was impossible to foresee;
or
(f) work to be performed by employees in any industrial
undertaking essential to the economy of Singapore or any
of the essential services as defined under Part 3 of the
Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act 1955.
[26/2013]

(3) Except in the circumstances described in subsection (2A)(a),

(b), (c), (d) and (e), an employee to whom this section applies must
not under any circumstances work for more than 12 hours in any one
day.
[26/2013]

(4) Section 38(4) does not apply to any employee to whom this
section applies, but any such employee who at the request of his or
her employer works more than an average of 44 hours per week over
any continuous period of 3 weeks must be paid for the extra work in
accordance with section 38(4).

Interpretation of “week” for purposes of sections 36, 38 and 40

41. In sections 36, 38 and 40, “week” means a continuous period of
7 days commencing at midnight on Sunday.

Power to exempt
41A.—(1) The Commissioner may, after considering the
operational needs of the employer and the health and safety of the
employee or class of employees, by written order exempt an
employee or any class of employees from sections 38(1), (5) and
(8) and 40(3) subject to such conditions as the Commissioner thinks
fit.
(2) The Commissioner may, after considering the operational needs
of an employer and the interests of an employee or a class of

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

43 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

employees, by written order, direct that the entitlement to be paid for

extra work under section 37(2) or (3), 38(4), 40(4) or 88(4) does not
apply to that employee or class of employees, subject to such
conditions as the Commissioner thinks fit.
(3) Where the Commissioner —
(a) exempts an employee or any class of employees from
section 38(1), (5) or (8) or 40(3); or
(b) directs that the entitlement to be paid for extra work under
section 37(2) or (3), 38(4), 40(4) or 88(4) does not apply to
an employee or any class of employees,
the employer must display the order or a copy thereof conspicuously
in the place where the employee or class of employees are employed.
42. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]
43. [Repealed by Act 55 of 2018]
44. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]

Payment of retrenchment benefit

45. No employee who has been in continuous service with an
employer for less than 2 years is entitled to any retrenchment benefit
on his or her dismissal on the ground of redundancy or by reason of
any reorganisation of the employer’s profession, business, trade or
work.
[26/2013]

Retirement benefit
46. No employee who has been in continuous service with an
employer for less than 5 years is entitled to any retirement benefit
other than the sums payable under the Central Provident Fund
Act 1953 on the cessation of his or her service with the employer.

Priority of retirement benefits, etc.

47.—(1) Where a collective agreement or an award contains a
provision for the payment of a gratuity or other sum of money to an
employee on his or her retirement or on the termination of his or her
services under such circumstances as may be provided for in the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 44
collective agreement or award, the gratuity or other sum of money
which is due and owing to the employee is to be included among —
(a) the debts which, under section 203 of the Insolvency,
Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, are to be paid in
priority to all other unsecured debts in the winding up of a
company and that gratuity or sum of money ranks after the
preferential debts referred to in that section;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

(b) the debts which, under section 352 of the Insolvency,

Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, are to be paid in
priority to all other debts in the distribution of the property
of a bankrupt or of a person dying insolvent;
[40/2018]
[S 26/20222 wef 13/01/2022]

(c) the debts which, under the repealed section 328 of the
Companies Act 1967 (as applied by section 130 of the
VCC Act as in force before the operative date), are to be
paid in priority to all other unsecured debts in the winding
up of a VCC and that gratuity or sum of money ranks after
the preferential debts mentioned in that section;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

(d) the debts which, under section 203 of the Insolvency,

Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (as applied by
section 130 of the VCC Act as in force on the operative
date), are to be paid in priority to all other unsecured debts
in the winding up of a VCC, and that gratuity or sum of
money ranks after the preferential debts mentioned in that
section;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

(e) the debts which, under the repealed section 328 of the
Companies Act 1967 (as applied by section 33(2) of the
VCC Act read with the First Schedule to the VCC Act as in
force before the operative date) are to be paid in priority to
all other unsecured debts in the winding up of a sub-fund of
an umbrella VCC, and that gratuity or sum of money ranks
after the preferential debts mentioned in that section; or
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

45 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(f) the debts which, under section 203 of the Insolvency,

Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (as applied by
section 33(2) of the VCC Act read with the First Schedule
to the VCC Act as in force on the operative date), are to be
paid in priority to all other unsecured debts in the winding
up of a sub-fund of an umbrella VCC, and that gratuity or
sum of money ranks after the preferential debts mentioned
in that section.
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

(2) Where a collective agreement or an award contains a provision

for the payment of a gratuity or other sum of money to an employee
on his or her retirement and no provision is made for the payment of a
gratuity or other sum of money on the termination of the employee’s
services by reason of his or her employer ceasing to carry on business
for whatever reason, or by reason of the employer transferring the
whole or part of the employer’s undertaking or property (as the case
may be), every such collective agreement or award is deemed, despite
anything contained in any written law or rule of law or collective
agreement or award to the contrary, to contain a provision that in the
event of the employer ceasing to carry on business for whatever
reason or transferring the whole or part of the employer’s undertaking
or property (as the case may be), an employee who ceases to be
employed by the employer by reason of the happening of such a
contingency must be paid such sum of money as the employee would
have been entitled to receive under the terms of the collective
agreement or award if the employee had retired from the service of
the employer on the day the employer ceases to carry on business or
transfers the whole or part of the employer’s undertaking or property,
as the case may be.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply where an employer has set up a
fund under a scheme for the payment of pensions, gratuities,
provident fund or other superannuation benefits to the employer’s
employees on their retirement from the service of the employer
whereby under the scheme the employees’ benefits are safeguarded
in the event of an employer’s bankruptcy or, if the employer is a
company or VCC, on the winding up of the company or VCC or in the
event of the employer ceasing to carry on business for any other

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 46
reason or transferring the whole or part of the employer’s undertaking
or property, as the case may be.
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

(4) Any sum of money payable under subsection (2) is deemed, for
the purposes of subsection (1), to be a payment to an employee on his
or her retirement and is to be included among the debts referred to in
subsection (1)(a) or (b).
(5) In this section —
“award” means an award made by the Industrial Arbitration
Court under the provisions of the Industrial Relations
Act 1960;
“collective agreement” means a collective agreement, a
memorandum of which has been certified by the Industrial
Arbitration Court in accordance with the provisions of the
Industrial Relations Act 1960;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

“company” has the meaning given by section 4(1) of the

Companies Act 1967;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

“operative date” means the date of commencement of

sections 29, 48 and 62 of the Variable Capital Companies
(Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2019;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

“sub-fund”, “umbrella VCC” and “VCC” have the meanings

given by section 2(1) of the VCC Act;
[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

“VCC Act” means the Variable Capital Companies Act 2018.

[S 26/2022 wef 13/01/2022]

Payment of annual wage supplement or other variable

payment
48.—(1) Where a contract of service or collective agreement made
before 26 August 1988 provides for the payment by the employer of
any annual wage supplement, annual bonus or annual wage increase,
the payments continue to be payable by the employer until the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

47 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

employer and the employer’s employees or a trade union representing

the employer’s employees have negotiated and agreed to vary the
payments.
(2) An employer and the employer’s employees or a trade union
representing the employer’s employees may negotiate for and agree
to a variable payment based on the trading results or productivity or
on any other criteria agreed upon by the parties concerned.
(3) Where an employer has not paid any annual wage supplement
prior to 26 August 1988, any contract of service or collective
agreement made on or after that date between the employer and the
employer’s employees or a trade union representing the employer’s
employees must not contain a provision for the payment of an annual
wage supplement exceeding the equivalent of one month’s wages of
the employees.
(4) Any person who, or any trade union of employees which,
requests (whether orally or in writing) or invites negotiations for the
payment by an employer of an annual wage supplement which is in
excess of the amount specified in subsection (3) and any employer
who pays an annual wage supplement exceeding the amount
specified in subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence.
(5) Even though an annual wage supplement may be payable under
subsection (1) or (3), an employer may, in the event of exceptionally
poor business results for any year, invite the employees or a trade
union representing the employer’s employees to negotiate for a lower
quantum of annual wage supplement or for no annual wage
supplement to be paid for that year.

Power of Minister to make recommendations for wage

adjustments
49. The Minister may make recommendations for wage adjustment,
and upon the publication of the recommendations in the Gazette the
employer and the employer’s employees or a trade union representing
the employer’s employees may negotiate based on those
recommendations.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 48
Interpretation for purposes of sections 48 and 49
50.—(1) Where a notice is served under section 18 of the Industrial
Relations Act 1960 by an employer or a trade union representing the
employer’s employees in respect of any matter referred to in
sections 48 and 49 and no agreement is reached between the
parties, either party may, despite the provisions of the Industrial
Relations Act 1960, refer the matter to the Industrial Arbitration
Court established under the Industrial Relations Act 1960 for
arbitration.
(2) In sections 48 and 49 —
“annual wage supplement” means a single annual payment to
employees that is supplemental to the total amount of annual
wages earned by them, whether expressed as a percentage
thereof or otherwise;
“variable payment” means such payment, however expressed
and whether paid annually or otherwise, which serves as an
incentive to all employees to increase their productivity or as
a reward for their contribution;
“wages” means the basic wages payable to an employee in
respect of work done under his or her contract of service but
does not include any commission, overtime allowance or
other allowances payable to an employee.
51. [Repealed by Act 36 of 1995]

Power to suspend application of this Part

52. The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, suspend the
application of any of the provisions of this Part to any classes of
employees when the public interest so requires it.

Offence
53. Any employer who employs any person as an employee
contrary to the provisions of this Part or fails to pay any salary in
accordance with the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

49 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding

12 months or to both.

PART 5
TRUCK SYSTEM
Agreements to pay salary otherwise than in legal tender illegal
54. The salary of a workman must be payable in legal tender and not
otherwise and if in any contract of service the whole or any part of the
salary is made payable in any other manner the contract of service is
illegal and void.

Agreements as to place and manner, etc., of spending salary

illegal
55. A contract of service must not contain any terms as to the place
at which, or the manner in which, or the person with whom, any
salary paid to the workman is to be expended and every contract of
service containing such terms is illegal and void.

Salary to be paid entirely in legal tender

56. Except where otherwise expressly permitted by the provisions
of this Act, the entire amount of the salary earned by, or payable to,
any workman in respect of any work done by him or her must be
actually paid to him or her in legal tender, and every payment of, or on
account of, any such salary made in any other form is illegal and void.

Recovery of salary not paid in legal tender

57. Every workman is entitled to recover in any court or before the
Commissioner, acting under section 115, so much of his or her salary
exclusive of sums lawfully deducted in accordance with the
provisions of this Act as has not been actually paid to him or her
in legal tender.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 50
Interest on advances forbidden
58. An employer must not make any deduction by way of discount,
interest or any similar charge on account of any advance of salary
made to any workman.

Remuneration other than salary

59. Nothing in this Part renders illegal a contract of service with a
workman for giving to the workman food, quarters or other
allowances or privileges in addition to money salary as a
remuneration for the workman’s services, but an employer must
not give to a workman any noxious drugs or intoxicating liquor by
way of remuneration.

Shops and canteens

60.—(1) Nothing in this Part prevents the employer from
establishing or permitting to be established a shop or a canteen for
the sale of foodstuffs, provisions, meals or refreshments; but a
workman must not be compelled by any contract of service to
purchase any goods at that shop or canteen, and noxious drugs and
intoxicating liquor must not be sold at any such shop or canteen.
(2) An employer must not establish or keep or permit to be
established or kept, a shop or canteen on any place of employment for
the sale of foodstuffs, provisions, meals or refreshments to the
employer’s workmen otherwise than in accordance with
subsection (1).

Offence
61. Any employer who enters into any contract of service or gives
any remuneration for service contrary to the provisions of this Part or
declared by this Part to be illegal or receives any payment from any
workman contrary to the provisions of this Part or contravenes
section 60(2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on
conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000, and for a second or
subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
62. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

51 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

Payment of salary through bank

63.—(1) Nothing in section 54 or 56 operates so as to render
unlawful or invalid any payment of salary by the employer to the
workman in any of the following ways:
(a) payment into an account at a bank in Singapore, being an
account in the name of the workman or an account in the
name of the workman jointly with one or more other
persons;
(b) payment by cheque made payable to or to the order of the
workman.
(2) Where the salary or part thereof has been paid in any of the ways
set out in subsection (1), section 57 does not operate to give a right of
recovery of so much of the salary as has been so paid.

Limitations on application of this Part

64. Nothing in this Part applies to any body of persons working on
an agreement of cooperation.

PART 6
CONTRACTORS AND CONTRACTING
Liability of principals, contractors and subcontractors for
salary of workman
65.—(1) Where a principal, in the course of or for the purposes of
or in pursuance of or in furtherance of the interests of the principal’s
trade or business, contracts with a contractor for the supply of labour
or for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any
part of any work undertaken by the principal, and any salary is due to
any workman by the contractor or any subcontractor under the
contractor for labour supplied or for work done in the course of the
execution of such work, the principal and the contractor and any such
subcontractor (not being the employer) are jointly and severally liable
with the employer to pay the workman as if the workman had been
immediately employed by the principal, and where salary is claimed
from the principal, this Act (with the exception of section 33 relating

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 52
to priority of salary) applies as if reference to the principal were
substituted for reference to the employer, except that salary claimed is
to be calculated with reference to the salary of the workman under the
employer by whom the workman is immediately employed.
(1A) No principal, contractor or subcontractor, not being the
employer, is jointly and severally liable to any workman under
subsection (1) for more than the salary earned in one month for work
done by the employer.
(1B) In the case of a contract for constructional work, the principal
is not liable for the payment of salary under subsection (1) unless the
principal is also a constructional contractor.
(1C) [Deleted by Act 21 of 2016 wef 01/04/2017]
(2) A workman who wishes to recover any salary from a person
liable under this section for the salary must, before lodging a claim for
the salary under section 13 of the Employment Claims Act 2016,
submit to the Commissioner, under section 3(1) of that Act, a
mediation request for the mediation under Part 2 of that Act of every
dispute for which the claim will be lodged.
[21/2016]

(2A) The workman must submit the mediation request to the

Commissioner within 60 days after the date on which the salary
becomes due for payment in accordance with Part 3.
[21/2016]

(2B) The Commissioner may extend the period under

subsection (2A) within which the workman must submit the
mediation request to the Commissioner.
[21/2016]

(2C) However, if a workman has lodged, before 1 April 2017, a

claim under section 119 for any salary against a person liable under
this section for the salary —
(a) subsections (2), (2A) and (2B) do not apply to the recovery
of the salary under that claim; and
(b) instead, the repealed section 65(1C) and (2) as in force
immediately before 1 April 2017 continues to apply to the
recovery of the salary under that claim.
[21/2016]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

53 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(3) Nothing in this section prevents any principal or contractor or

subcontractor, not being the employer, who as the result of a claim
made under this section has paid any salary to a workman, from
instituting civil proceedings for the recovery of the amount of salary
so paid from the employer of that workman.
(4) Nothing in this section prevents a workman from recovering
salary under this Act from his or her employer instead of the principal
or contractor or subcontractor.
(5) The reference to principal in this section includes a reference to
the Government or a statutory body or authority acting in the course
of or in the discharge of its functions.

Registration of contractors and subcontractors

66.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, require
all contractors and subcontractors to be registered with the
Commissioner and thereafter a person must not act as a contractor
or a subcontractor unless the person is so registered.
(2) Every application for such registration must be in the prescribed
form.
(3) Every person so registered under this section as a contractor or
subcontractor is deemed to be the employer of the workmen
employed by that person.
(4) Every contractor or subcontractor who has been so registered
and who changes the name under which that contractor or
subcontractor carries on business must within 7 days of the change
of name apply in writing to the Commissioner for re-registration and
cancellation of the previous registration.
(5) The Commissioner may effect the registration of any person
under this section and may cancel any such registration.
(6) The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the
requirements and conditions for registration of a contractor or
subcontractor under this section.
(7) Any person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an
offence.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 54
PART 6A
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES
Part-time employees
66A.—(1) In this Part, “part-time employee” means an employee
who is required under his or her contract of service with an employer
to work for less than 35 hours a week.
(2) Despite subsection (1), the Minister may, by notification in the
Gazette, declare that any employee or class of employees are not to be
regarded as part-time employees for the purposes of this Part.

Minister may exclude or modify Act in relation to part-time

employees
66B. The Minister may by regulations exclude or modify any or all
of the provisions of this Act in their application to any part-time
employee or class of part-time employees.

PART 7
DOMESTIC WORKERS
Minister may apply Act to domestic workers
67. The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, apply all or
any of the provisions of this Act with such modification as may be set
out in the notification to all domestic workers or to any group, class or
number of domestic workers and may make regulations to provide
generally for the engagement and working conditions of domestic
workers.

PART 8
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS
Interpretation of this Part
67A. In this Part —
“child” means a person who has not completed his or her
15th year of age;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

55 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

“young person” means a person who has completed his or her

15th year of age but who has not completed his or her
16th year of age.

Restriction on employment of children

68.—(1) A person must not employ a child in an industrial or a
non-industrial undertaking except as provided for in subsections (2)
and (3).
(2) A child may be employed in an industrial undertaking in which
only members of the same family are employed.
(3) A child who is 13 years of age or above may be employed in
light work suited to his or her capacity in a non-industrial
undertaking.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), the certificate of a medical
officer is conclusive upon the question of whether any work is suited
to the capacity of any particular child.

Restriction on employment of young persons

69. A young person must not be employed in any industrial
undertaking which the Minister by notification in the Gazette
declares to be an industrial undertaking in which a young person
must not be employed.

Conditions of employment
70. The Minister may by regulations made under this Act prescribe
the conditions upon which a child or young person may be employed
in any industrial or non-industrial undertaking.

Minimum rates of salary may be prescribed

71.—(1) If it is shown to the satisfaction of the Minister, upon the
application of the Commissioner and after such inquiry as the
Minister may direct, that the salaries of children or young persons, or
both, employed in any industry or for any particular work or in any
area are insufficient, having regard to the nature of the work and the
conditions of employment, it is lawful for the Minister to prescribe,

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 56
by order in the Gazette, minimum rates of salary to be paid to children
or young persons or both in that industry, type of employment or area.
(2) Any person contravening any such order shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to
both, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding
$10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to
both.

Approved employment
72.—(1) Sections 68 and 69 do not apply —
(a) to the employment of children and young persons —
(i) in work approved and supervised by the Ministry of
Education or the Institute of Technical Education,
Singapore; and
(ii) carried on in any technical, vocational or industrial
training school or institute; and
(b) to the employment of young persons under any
apprenticeship programme approved and supervised by
the Institute of Technical Education, Singapore.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the Institute of Technical
Education, Singapore means the Institute of Technical Education,
Singapore established under the Institute of Technical Education
Act 1992.

Regulations regulating employment

73. The Minister may make regulations for regulating the
employment of children in any occupation and a child or young
person must not be employed as a workman under any circumstances
or under any conditions which may be prohibited by the Minister by
regulations made under this Act.

Offence
74. Any person who employs a child or young person in
contravention of the provisions of this Part or any of the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

57 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

regulations made under this Part and any parent or guardian who
knowingly or negligently suffers or permits such employment shall
be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not
exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years
or to both, except in the case where a child or young person suffers
serious injury or death resulting from any breach of the provisions of
this Part or any regulations made under this Part the offender shall be
punished with a fine of $5,000 and shall also be liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.

Power of Youth Court in respect of children or young persons

requiring care or protection
75. A child or young person in respect of whom any of the offences
mentioned in this Part has been committed may be brought before a
Youth Court and the Court, if satisfied that the child or young person
requires care or protection, may exercise with respect to that child or
young person all or any of the powers conferred by section 54 of the
Children and Young Persons Act 1993.
[27/2014]

PART 9
MATERNITY PROTECTION AND BENEFITS
AND CHILDCARE LEAVE FOR PARENT
Length of benefit period
76.—(1) Subject to this section, every female employee is entitled
to absent herself from work —
(a) during —
(i) the period of 4 weeks immediately before her
confinement; and
(ii) the period of 8 weeks immediately after her
confinement;
(b) during a period of 12 weeks, as agreed to by her and her
employer, commencing —

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 58
(i) not earlier than 28 days immediately preceding the
day of her confinement; and
(ii) not later than the day of her confinement; or
(c) during —
(i) a period of 8 weeks, as agreed to by her and her
employer, commencing —
(A) not earlier than 28 days immediately preceding
the day of her confinement; and
(B) not later than the day of her confinement; and
(ii) one or more than one period each of such duration as
agreed between the employee and her employer but
in aggregate no shorter than as reckoned in
accordance with the Fifth Schedule or 24 days,
whichever is the lower, all of which must be taken
within the period of 12 months commencing on the
day of her confinement.
[26/2013]

(1A) Subject to this section and section 77, every female employee
is entitled to receive payment from her employer at her gross rate of
pay for any of the following periods (called in this Part the benefit
period):
(a) where subsection (1)(a) applies, the period of 4 weeks
referred to in subsection (1)(a)(i) and the first 4 weeks of
the period referred to in subsection (1)(a)(ii);
(b) where subsection (1)(b) applies, the first 8 weeks of the
period referred to in subsection (1)(b);
(c) where subsection (1)(c) applies, the period of 8 weeks
referred to in subsection (1)(c)(i).
[27/2015]

(2) A female employee who delivers a child before 1 May 2013,

and whose estimated delivery date for her confinement in respect of
that child (as certified by a medical practitioner) is before 1 May
2013, is not entitled to any pay during the benefit period if she has

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

59 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

served her employer for less than 90 days immediately preceding the
day of her confinement.
[12/2013]

(2A) A female employee who delivers a child —

(a) on or after 1 May 2013 but before 22 August 2015; or
(b) before 1 May 2013 but whose estimated delivery date for
her confinement in respect of that child (as certified by a
medical practitioner) is on or after 1 May 2013,
is not entitled to any pay during the benefit period if she has served
her employer for less than 3 months immediately preceding the day of
her confinement.
[12/2013; 27/2015]

(2B) A female employee who delivers a child —

(a) on or after 22 August 2015; or
(b) before 22 August 2015 but whose estimated delivery date
for her confinement in respect of that child (as certified by
a medical practitioner) is on or after that date,
is not entitled to any pay during the benefit period if she has not
served her employer for a period of at least 3 months preceding the
day of her confinement.
[27/2015]

(3) Where a female employee has worked in her employment for

any day during the benefit period before her confinement, she is
entitled to receive in addition to her gross rate of pay for that day an
amount that is equivalent to a day’s pay at the gross rate of pay or to
absent herself from work on another day at the end of the benefit
period.
(4) Subject to any collective agreement or award to the contrary, a
female employee is not entitled to any payment under
subsection (1A) for any confinement if, at the time of the
confinement —
(a) she has 2 or more living children; and
(b) those children were born during more than one previous
confinement.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 60
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply to such class or classes of
employees as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette,
specify.
(5A) Where the employment of a female employee is terminated
because she resigns before she has exercised, wholly or partly, her
entitlement to absent herself from work during a period mentioned in
subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c), she forfeits the following upon
termination of her employment:
(a) that entitlement (or the balance of that entitlement) to
absent herself from work;
(b) the entitlement under this section (if any) to receive
payment from her employer at her gross rate of pay in
respect of the forfeited period of absence from work under
paragraph (a).
[19/2021]

(6) Where the employment of a female employee is terminated

(whether by dismissal, upon the completion of her contract of service,
or for any reason other than by resignation) before she has exercised,
wholly or partly, her entitlement to absent herself from work during a
period referred to in subsection (1)(c)(ii), she forfeits that entitlement
(or the balance thereof) upon the termination of her employment.
[19/2021]

Payments to include holidays, etc.

77.—(1) The payment referred to in section 76 must be paid for
every day of the benefit period, including holidays, but not any day
during the benefit period on which the female employee takes no-pay
leave.
[27/2015]

(2) Nothing in this section requires an employer to pay to a female

employee an extra day’s salary for a holiday which falls within the
benefit period.

When payment is to be made

78.—(1) In the case of a female employee who is a daily-rated
employee, the payment referred to in section 76 must be paid in
2 instalments, the first for the period up to and including the day of

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

61 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

confinement, to be paid within 7 days from the date of confinement,

and the second, for the period after confinement, to be paid within
7 days from the end of that period.
(2) In the case of any other female employee, the payment must be
paid at such time as the salary earned by the employee under her
contract of service is due to be paid to her.

Payment of benefit on death of female employee before

confinement
79.—(1) If a female employee, after giving notice to her employer
under section 80(1), abstains from work in expectation of her
confinement and dies from any cause before her confinement, the
employer must pay to the person nominated by her under
section 80(4) or, if there is no such person, to her personal
representative a sum of money at the rate prescribed under
section 76 from the date immediately following the last day on
which she worked to the day immediately preceding the day of her
death and except in the circumstances mentioned in this subsection no
employer is liable to pay any sum in respect of a period exceeding
30 days.
(2) If a female employee dies from any cause on or after the day of
her confinement and before any payment to which she is entitled has
been paid to her, the employer must pay to the person nominated by
her under section 80(4) or, if there is no such person, to her personal
representative any sum of money to which she was on the date of her
death entitled in respect of the period up to the day of confinement
and in respect of the period after confinement up to the day
immediately preceding the day of her death.

Notice of confinement
80.—(1) A female employee must, at least one week before
absenting herself from work in accordance with section 76, give
notice to her employer specifying the date on which she intends to
commence absenting herself from work.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 62
(2) A female employee who has been confined must, as soon as
practicable, inform her employer of the date on which she was
confined.
(3) Any female employee who omits to give notice as required
under subsection (1) or fails to inform her employer as required under
subsection (2) is entitled to only half the amount of any payment to
which she is entitled to under this Part unless she was prevented by
any sufficient cause from giving the notice.
(4) A female employee may at any time in writing nominate some
other person to whom any payment to which she is entitled under this
Part may be paid on her behalf; and any such payment made to the
person so nominated is deemed, for the purpose of this Act, to be
payment to the female employee who nominated the person.

Dismissal during absence prohibited

81. Without affecting sections 84 and 84A, when a female
employee absents herself from work in accordance with the
provisions of this Part it is not lawful for her employer to give her
notice of dismissal during her absence or on such a day that the notice
will expire during her absence.

Employment after confinement

82. Any employer who knowingly employs a female employee at
any time during the period of 4 weeks immediately following her
confinement shall be guilty of an offence.

Forfeiture of payment
83. If a female employee works for any other employer after she has
absented herself from work under the provisions of this Part, she
forfeits her claim to any payment to which she is entitled under this
Part and is liable to dismissal.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

63 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

Right to benefit unaffected by notice of dismissal given without

sufficient cause
84.—(1) Without affecting sections 81 and 84A, a notice of
dismissal given without sufficient cause by an employer to a
female employee which —
(a) if given before 1 May 2013, is given —
(i) within a period of 6 months preceding the estimated
delivery date for her confinement (as certified by a
medical practitioner); or
(ii) within a period of 6 months preceding the date of her
confinement;
(b) if given on or after 1 May 2013, is given at any time of her
pregnancy (as certified by a medical practitioner before the
notice of dismissal is given), where the female employee
has served the employer for a period of 3 months or more
immediately preceding the day the notice is given; or
(c) if given on or after 1 May 2013 but before 1 August 2013
and where the female employee has served the employer
for a period of less than 3 months, is given —
(i) within a period of 6 months preceding the estimated
delivery date for her confinement (as certified by a
medical practitioner); or
(ii) within a period of 6 months preceding the date of her
confinement,
does not have the effect of depriving her of any payment to which, but
for that notice, she would have been entitled or would, on or before
the date of her confinement, have become entitled to under this Part.
[12/2013]

(1A) In any case where there are 2 or more estimated delivery dates
(each certified by a medical practitioner) for the confinement of a
female employee, the estimated delivery date that is relevant for the
purposes of subsection (1) is the estimated delivery date —
(a) which is certified by a medical practitioner before the
notice of dismissal is given by her employer; and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 64
(b) the date of such certification of which is closest to the date
the notice of dismissal is given.
(2) Subject to section 3 of the Employment Claims Act 2016, where
a female employee in the circumstances mentioned in
subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) considers that a notice of dismissal
given to her was not given for sufficient cause, the female employee
may lodge a claim, under section 13 of that Act, for either of the
following remedies:
(a) reinstatement in her former employment;
(b) compensation.
[55/2018]

(3) If a Tribunal hearing the claim is satisfied that the female

employee has been dismissed without sufficient cause, the Tribunal
may, despite any rule of law or agreement to the contrary —
(a) in a claim for reinstatement of the employee in her former
employment, direct the employer —
(i) to reinstate the employee in her former employment;
and
(ii) to pay the employee an amount equivalent to the
wages that the employee would have earned, if she
had not been dismissed by the employer; or
(b) in a claim for compensation, direct the employer to pay, as
compensation to the employee, an amount of wages
determined by the Tribunal to be just and equitable
having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
[55/2018]

Right to benefit unaffected by notice of dismissal given on

ground of redundancy or by reason of reorganisation of
employer’s profession, business, trade or work
84A.—(1) Without affecting sections 81 and 84, a notice of
dismissal given to a female employee by her employer on the
ground of redundancy or by reason of any reorganisation of her
employer’s profession, business, trade or work —

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

65 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(a) if given before 1 May 2013, is given —

(i) within a period of 3 months preceding the estimated
delivery date for her confinement (as certified by a
medical practitioner); or
(ii) within a period of 3 months preceding the date of her
confinement;
(b) if given on or after 1 May 2013, is given at any time of her
pregnancy (as certified by a medical practitioner before the
notice of dismissal is given), where the female employee
has served the employer for a period of 3 months or more
immediately preceding the day the notice is given; or
(c) if given on or after 1 May 2013 but before 1 August 2013
and where the female employee has served the employer
for a period of less than 3 months, is given —
(i) within a period of 3 months preceding the estimated
delivery date for her confinement (as certified by a
medical practitioner); or
(ii) within a period of 3 months preceding the date of her
confinement,
does not have the effect of depriving her of any payment to which, but
for that notice, she would have been entitled or would, on or before
the date of her confinement, have become entitled to under this Part.
[12/2013]

(2) In any case where there are 2 or more estimated delivery dates
(each certified by a medical practitioner) for the confinement of a
female employee, the estimated delivery date that is relevant for the
purposes of subsection (1) is the estimated delivery date —
(a) which is certified by a medical practitioner before the
notice of dismissal is given by her employer; and
(b) the date of such certification of which is closest to the date
the notice of dismissal is given.
(3) The payment referred to in subsection (1) is in addition to any
retrenchment benefit or other payment to which the female employee

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 66
is entitled under the terms of her contract of service or under any other
written law.
85. [Repealed by Act 12 of 2013]

Contracting out
86. Any contract of service whereby a female employee
relinquishes any right to maternity benefit under this Part is void
insofar as it purports to deprive her of that right or to remove or
reduce the liability of any employer to make any payment under this
Part.

Offences and penalties

87.—(1) Any employer who —
(a) fails, without reasonable cause, to grant maternity leave
under this Part to a female employee who is entitled to and
requests for the leave;
(b) fails to pay the employer’s female employee in accordance
with any of the provisions of this Part (other than
section 87A); or
(c) acts in contravention of section 81,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine
not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
6 months or to both.
[12/2013]

(2) Any employer who is guilty of an offence under section 82 shall

be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
[12/2013]

(3) Where an employer who is convicted or found guilty of an

offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) or section 82 is a repeat
offender, the employer shall be liable on conviction to a fine not
exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
12 months or to both.
[12/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

67 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), a person is a repeat offender

in relation to an offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) or
section 82 if the person who is convicted or found guilty of an offence
under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) or section 82 (called the current
offence) has been convicted or found guilty of —
(a) an offence under subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) or section 82;
or
(b) an offence under section 17(1) of the Child Development
Co-Savings Act 2001 in force before, on or after 1 May
2013,
on at least one other occasion on or after 1 May 2013 and before the
date on which the person is convicted or found guilty of the current
offence.
[12/2013]

Childcare leave for parent

87A.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), where any employee —
(a) has served an employer for a period of not less than
3 months; and
(b) has any child below 7 years of age at any time during any
relevant period,
the employee is entitled to childcare leave of 2 days for that relevant
period.
(2) An employee —
(a) is not entitled to more than 14 days of childcare leave in
respect of any child; and
(b) must —
(i) take his or her first entitlement of childcare leave of
2 days for a relevant period in that relevant period or
the next succeeding relevant period; and
(ii) then take his or her next and each subsequent
entitlement of childcare leave of 2 days for a
relevant period in the next succeeding relevant

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 68
period and in each subsequent succeeding relevant
period, respectively.
(3) The childcare leave is in addition to the rest days, holidays,
annual leave and sick leave to which an employee is entitled under
sections 36, 88, 88A and 89, respectively.
[55/2018]

(4) An employer must grant, and an employee who is entitled to

childcare leave must take, the entitlement of childcare leave of 2 days
for a relevant period not later than the last day of that relevant period,
and any employee who fails to take that leave by that day —
(a) thereupon ceases to be entitled to that leave; and
(b) is not entitled to any payment in lieu thereof.
(5) An employer must pay an employee who is entitled to childcare
leave his or her gross rate of pay for every day of such leave that is
taken by the employee.
(5A) Despite subsection (5), an employee is not entitled to take paid
childcare leave on a day the employee takes no-pay leave.
[27/2015]

(6) If the employment of an employee who is entitled to childcare

leave is terminated (whether by resignation or dismissal, upon the
completion of his or her contract of service, or for any other reason)
before he or she has taken the entitlement of childcare leave of 2 days
for a relevant period, the employee —
(a) ceases to be entitled to that leave upon the termination of
his or her employment; and
(b) is not entitled to any payment in lieu thereof.
(7) Any employer who contravenes subsection (5) shall be guilty of
an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to
both.
[12/2013]

(7A) Any employer who fails, without reasonable cause, to grant

childcare leave to an employee who is entitled to and requests for the
leave shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

69 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not

exceeding 6 months or to both.
[12/2013]

(7B) Where an employer who is convicted or found guilty of an

offence under subsection (7) or (7A) is a repeat offender, that
employer shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to
both.
[12/2013]

(7C) For the purposes of subsection (7B), a person is a repeat

offender in relation to an offence under subsection (7) or (7A) if the
person who is convicted or found guilty of an offence under
subsection (7) or (7A) (called the current offence) has been convicted
or found guilty of —
(a) an offence under subsection (7) or (7A);
(b) an offence under section 12B(12) or (14) of the Child
Development Co-Savings Act 2001 in force before, on or
after 1 May 2013; or
(c) an offence under section 12B(13) of the Child
Development Co-Savings Act 2001,
on at least one other occasion on or after 1 May 2013 and before the
date on which that person is convicted or found guilty of the current
offence.
[12/2013]

(8) In this section —

“child”, in relation to an employee, includes —
(a) any adopted child and stepchild of the employee; and
(b) any child to whom the employee is providing care,
protection and supervision as a foster parent under a
voluntary care agreement as mentioned in section 15
of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993, or an
order under section 54(1)(b) or 56(2), or section 57
(read with section 56) of that Act;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 70
“relevant period”, in relation to an employee, means —
(a) any period of 12 months as is agreed to by the
employee and his or her employer; or
(b) where there is no such agreement, a calendar year.
[30/2019]

PART 10
HOLIDAY, ANNUAL LEAVE AND SICK
LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS
[55/2018]

Holidays
88.—(1) Every employee is entitled to a paid holiday at his or her
gross rate of pay on a public holiday that falls during the time that he
or she is employed, subject to the following:
(a) by agreement between the employer and the employee any
other day or days may be substituted for any one or more
public holidays;
(b) if any public holiday falls on a rest day, the working day
next following that rest day is a paid holiday;
(c) if any public holiday falls on a day when the employee is
not required to work under his or her contract of service,
the employer may either pay the employee for that holiday
at his or her gross rate of pay or give the employee a day off
in substitution for that holiday.
[27/2015]

(2) Despite subsection (1), an employee is not entitled to holiday

pay for any public holiday which falls on a day when the employee is
on leave of absence without pay granted by the employer at the
employee’s request.
[27/2015]

(3) An employee who absents himself or herself from work on the

working day immediately preceding or immediately succeeding a
public holiday or any day substituted therefor under subsection (1)

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

71 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

without the prior consent of his or her employer or without reasonable

excuse is not entitled to any holiday pay for that holiday.
[27/2015]

(4) Despite subsection (1), any employee may be required by his or

her employer to work on any public holiday to which the employee
would otherwise be entitled under that subsection and, in such event,
the employee must be paid an extra day’s salary at the basic rate of
pay for one day’s work in addition to the gross rate of pay for that day
and to a travelling allowance, if payable to the employee under the
terms of his or her agreement with his or her employer, for one day.
[27/2015]

(4A) Despite subsections (1) and (4), where any employee (other
than an employee to whom Part 4 applies by virtue of section 35(b) or
who is a workman mentioned in section 35(a)) is required by his or
her employer to work on any public holiday to which the employee
would otherwise be entitled under subsection (1), the employee must
be paid the gross rate of pay for that day and may be given the
following, in lieu of a day off in substitution for that holiday or an
extra day’s salary at the basic rate of pay:
(a) part of a day off on a working day comprising such number
of hours as may be agreed between the employee and his or
her employer;
(b) in the case where there is no such agreement —
(i) part of a day off on a working day comprising 4 hours
if the employee worked on that holiday for a period
not exceeding 4 hours; or
(ii) a day off on a working day if the employee worked
on that holiday for a period of more than 4 hours.
[26/2013; 27/2015; 55/2018]

(5) An employee is not entitled, by reason of subsection (4), to

receive double any housing allowance or food allowance.
(6) Subsection (4) does not apply to an employee who is employed
by the Government or a statutory body in any of the essential services
as defined under Part 3 of the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions)
Act 1955, but —

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 72
(a) any such employee may, despite subsection (1), be
required by his or her employer to work on a public
holiday or part thereof to which the employee would
otherwise be entitled under that subsection; and
(b) in any such case, the employee must be given a day or part
of a day off (as the case may be) in substitution for the
public holiday or part thereof.
[27/2015]

(7) For the purposes of this section if any public holiday falls on a
half working day, the gross or basic rate of pay payable is that of a full
working day.
[27/2015]

Annual leave
88A.—(1) An employee who has served an employer for a period
of not less than 3 months is, in addition to the rest days, holidays and
sick leave to which the employee is entitled under sections 36, 88 and
89, respectively, entitled to the following:
(a) 7 days of paid annual leave, for the first 12 months of
continuous service with the same employer;
(b) subject to paragraph (c), an additional one day of paid
annual leave, for every subsequent 12 months of
continuous service with the same employer;
(c) a maximum of 14 days of paid annual leave.
[55/2018]

(2) An employee who has served an employer for a period of not

less than 3 months, but has not completed 12 months of continuous
service in any year, is entitled to annual leave in proportion to the
number of completed months of service in that year.
[55/2018]

(3) In calculating the proportionate annual leave under

subsection (2) —
(a) any fraction of a day that is less than one-half of a day must
be disregarded; and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

73 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(b) where a fraction of a day is one-half or more, it must be

regarded as one day.
[55/2018]

(4) Where an employee is granted leave of absence without pay by

an employer at the employee’s request, the period of the leave is to be
disregarded for the purpose of computing the period of continuous
service under this section.
[55/2018]

(5) An employee forfeits the employee’s entitlement to annual

leave if the employee absents himself or herself from work without
the employer’s permission, or without reasonable excuse, for more
than 20% of the working days in the months or year (as the case may
be) in which the employee’s entitlement to annual leave accrues.
[55/2018]

(6) In the case of an employee to whom Part 4 applies by virtue of

section 35(b) or who is a workman mentioned in section 35(a) —
(a) the employer must grant, and the employee must take, the
employee’s paid annual leave not later than 12 months after
the end of every 12 months of continuous service; and
(b) if the employee fails to take that leave by the end of that
period, the employee ceases to be entitled to that leave.
[55/2018]

(7) An employer must pay an employee the employee’s gross rate

of pay for every day of paid annual leave.
[55/2018]

(8) If an employee is dismissed on any ground other than

misconduct before the employee has taken all of the employee’s
paid annual leave, the employer must pay the employee the
employee’s gross rate of pay in respect of every day of that leave
not taken by the employee.
[55/2018]

(9) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, do any of the

following:
(a) fix the periods when, and prescribe the manner in which,
paid annual leave is to be granted to employees in different
types of employment or in different classes of industries;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 74
(b) suspend the application of any provision of this section to
any class of employees, when the public interest so
requires it.
[55/2018]

Sick leave
89.—(1) Any employee who has served an employer for a period of
not less than 6 months is entitled, after examination by a medical
practitioner, to such paid sick leave, as may be certified by the
medical practitioner, not exceeding in the aggregate —
(a) if no hospitalisation is necessary, 14 days in each year; or
(b) if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the following:
(i) 60 days in each year;
(ii) the aggregate of 14 days plus the number of days on
which the employee is hospitalised.
[55/2018]

(2) Any employee who has served an employer for a period of at

least 3 months but less than 6 months is entitled, after examination by
a medical practitioner, to such paid sick leave, as may be certified by
the medical practitioner, not exceeding in the aggregate —
(a) where the employee has served the employer for a period
of at least 3 months but less than 4 months —
(i) if no hospitalisation is necessary, 5 days in each year;
or
(ii) if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the
following:
(A) 15 days in each year;
(B) the aggregate of 5 days plus the number of days
on which the employee is hospitalised;
(b) where the employee has served the employer for a period
of at least 4 months but less than 5 months —
(i) if no hospitalisation is necessary, 8 days in each year;
or

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

75 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(ii) if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the

following:
(A) 30 days in each year;
(B) the aggregate of 8 days plus the number of days
on which the employee is hospitalised; or
(c) where the employee has served the employer for a period
of at least 5 months but less than 6 months —
(i) if no hospitalisation is necessary, 11 days in each
year; or
(ii) if hospitalisation is necessary, the lesser of the
following:
(A) 45 days in each year;
(B) the aggregate of 11 days plus the number of
days on which the employee is hospitalised.
[55/2018]

(3) For the purposes of this section —

(a) an employee is hospitalised if the employee is warded in a
hospital in such circumstances as may be prescribed or is
under quarantine (whether or not in a hospital) under any
written law; and
(b) an employee is to be treated as hospitalised for any period
the employee is not an in-patient of a hospital, or stops
being an in-patient of a hospital after being warded in that
hospital in accordance with paragraph (a), if the employee
is certified, by a medical practitioner employed by a
hospital approved by the Minister —
(i) to be ill enough to require hospitalisation during that
period; or
(ii) to need rest or further medical treatment during that
period in order to recover after the employee’s
discharge from a hospital.
[55/2018]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 76
(4) An employee who absents himself or herself on sick leave —
(a) which is not certified by a medical practitioner; or
(b) which is certified by a medical practitioner not appointed
by the employer, but of which the employee did not inform
or attempt to inform the employer within 48 hours after its
commencement,
is deemed to have absented himself or herself from work without the
employer’s permission and without reasonable excuse for the days on
which the employee is so absent from work.
[55/2018]

(5) The employer must pay the employee for every day of such sick
leave —
(a) where no hospitalisation is necessary, at the gross rate of
pay excluding any allowance payable in respect of shift
work; and
(b) where hospitalisation is necessary, at the gross rate of pay.
(6) Despite subsection (5), an employee is not entitled to paid sick
leave on a rest day or on a holiday to which he or she is entitled under
section 36 or 88 respectively or on any day of paid annual leave or on
a day when he or she is not required to work under his or her contract
of service or on a day when he or she is on leave of absence without
pay granted by the employer at the employee’s request.
(7) An employee is not entitled to paid sick leave for the period
during which he or she is receiving or is entitled to receive
compensation for temporary incapacity under paragraph 4 of the
First Schedule to the Work Injury Compensation Act 2019 or
paragraph 4 of the Third Schedule to the Work Injury Compensation
Act (Cap. 354, 2009 Revised Edition) repealed by that Act.
[27/2019]

(7A) Where an employee has served an employer for a period of at

least 3 months, the employer is liable to bear, or to reimburse the
employee, the fees of an examination of the employee by a medical
practitioner, if —
(a) the medical practitioner is appointed by the employer or is
a medical officer; and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

77 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(b) after the examination, the employee is certified by the

medical practitioner to be entitled to paid sick leave.
[55/2018]

(8) An employer is deemed to fulfil the employer’s obligation under

subsection (7A) if —
(a) the Commissioner, after considering the merits of any
healthcare scheme that the employer provides to the
employer’s employees and such other matters as the
Commissioner may consider relevant, by written order
directs that the employer has fulfilled that obligation for so
long as the employer provides such a healthcare scheme for
the employer’s employees; or
(b) the employer complies with such other requirement as the
Minister may, by regulations, prescribe.
[55/2018]

(9) An order made under subsection (8)(a) —

(a) may be subject to such terms or conditions as the
Commissioner may determine, which the Commissioner
may add to, vary or revoke;
(b) need not be published in the Gazette; and
(c) may be revoked by the Commissioner in writing at any
time.
(10) This section does not apply to any employee seeking or
undergoing medical treatment which, in the opinion of a medical
practitioner performing the examination under subsection (1) or (2),
is for cosmetic purposes.
[26/2013; 55/2018]

Offence
90.—(1) Any employer who employs any person as an employee
contrary to the provisions of this Part or fails to pay any salary in
accordance with the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 78
exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
12 months or to both.
[4/2010]

(2) Despite subsection (1) —

(a) an employer and the employer’s employees or a trade
union representing the employer’s employees may
negotiate for and agree to terms of service more
favourable than those contained in sections 88A and 89;
and
(b) it is not an offence for an employer to grant to the
employer’s employees terms of service more favourable
than those contained in sections 88A and 89.
[4/2010; 55/2018]

PART 11
91. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]
92. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]
93. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]
94. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]

PART 12
REGISTERS, RETURNS AND OTHER
DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS
Employers’ obligation in relation to employee records
95.—(1) An employer must make, and keep for the period
prescribed (called in this section the record retention period),
employee records containing the prescribed particulars for —
(a) every employee the employer employs; and
(b) every former employee of the employer.
[27/2015]

(2) An employer must ensure that an employee record made and

kept under subsection (1) is, during the record retention period

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

79 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

prescribed for the employee record, readily accessible to the

employee or former employee to which the employee record relates.
[27/2015]

(3) An employer is taken to have failed to comply with

subsection (1) if the employer makes or keeps an employee record
that is incomplete or inaccurate, whether or not the employer knew
that the record is incomplete or inaccurate.
[27/2015]

(4) Different record retention periods may be prescribed for

different classes of employees or former employees, and for
different types of employee records.
[27/2015]

(5) In this section, “employee record”, for an employee or a former

employee of an employer, means a record of information or
particulars about the employment by the employer of the employee
or former employee, as the case may be.
[27/2015]

Employers’ obligation to give record of key employment terms

95A.—(1) This section only applies to, and in relation to, every
employee —
(a) who enters into a contract of service with the employer on
or after 1 April 2016; and
(b) who is employed under that contract for a period not
shorter than the prescribed minimum period of service.
[27/2015]

(2) An employer must give each employee of the employer a

written record of the key employment terms of the employee not later
than 14 days after the day that the employee starts employment with
the employer, or within such other period as may be prescribed in
substitution.
[27/2015]

(3) The requirement to give a written record of key employment

terms to an employee in subsection (2) is satisfied if —
(a) an electronic record containing the key employment terms
is provided in a manner that enables the information

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 80
contained in the electronic record to be accessible and
useable by the employee for subsequent reference; or
(b) the key employment terms are published on an Internet
website —
(i) which is authorised by the employer and readily
accessible to the employee; and
(ii) which address is disseminated by the employer to the
employee.
[27/2015]

(4) To avoid doubt, subsection (3) does not limit any other manner
of giving to an employee a written record of the key employment
terms of the employee.
[27/2015]

(5) An employer is taken to have failed to comply with

subsection (2) if the written record given is incomplete or
inaccurate, whether or not the employer knew that the record is
incomplete or inaccurate.
[27/2015]

(6) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette and subject to such
conditions as are specified in the order, exempt from any provision in
this section —
(a) any class of employers specified in the order, in respect of
all employees; or
(b) all employers or any class of employers, in respect of any
class of employees, specified in the order.
[27/2015]

(7) In this section, “key employment term”, for an employee, means

any type of term of employment contained in a contract of service
between an employer and the employee that is prescribed to be a key
employment term.
[27/2015]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

81 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

Employers’ obligation in relation to pay slips

96.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), an employer must give —
(a) to every employee of the employer a pay slip, within the
time prescribed for giving pay slips, for all salary paid by
the employer for the salary period or salary periods to
which the pay slip relates; and
(b) to every employee a pay slip for every sum paid by the
employer under section 22 or 23.
[27/2015]

(2) A pay slip given by an employer to an employee must be in the

form prescribed (if prescribed) and must contain all the information
prescribed.
[27/2015]

(3) The requirement to give a pay slip to an employee under this

section is satisfied if an electronic record containing the prescribed
information of a pay slip is provided in a manner that enables the
information contained in the electronic record to be accessible and
useable by the employee for subsequent reference.
[27/2015]

(4) An employer is taken to have failed to comply with

subsection (1) if the pay slip given to an employee is incomplete
or inaccurate, whether or not the employer knew that the pay slip is
incomplete or inaccurate.
[27/2015]

(5) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette and subject to such
conditions as are specified in the order, exempt from any provision in
this section —
(a) any class of employers specified in the order, in respect of
all employees; or
(b) all employers or any class of employers, in respect of any
class of employees, specified in the order.
[27/2015]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 82
Employer’s obligation to furnish information on retrenchment
of employees
96A.—(1) The Commissioner may, by notification in the Gazette,
require any employer, or any employer in a class of employers, to
furnish to the Commissioner, at such time and in such form as may be
specified in the notification, such information on the retrenchment of
any employee by the employer as may be specified in the notification.
[55/2018]

(2) Every employer to whom the notification applies must comply

with every requirement in the notification concerning the furnishing
to the Commissioner of information on the retrenchment of any
employee by the employer.
[55/2018]

Returns
97.—(1) The Commissioner may, by notification in the Gazette,
require any employer or class of employers to forward to the
Commissioner at such time or times as may be specified in the
notification a return in such form or forms as the Commissioner may
approve giving the particulars and information prescribed therein,
and any such employer must furnish the particulars and information
so prescribed.
(2) A person is not bound to furnish any particulars or information
other than such as are accessible to the person in the course of or
derivable from any profession, business, trade or work in the conduct
or supervision of which that person is engaged.

Commissioner may call for further returns

98.—(1) The Commissioner may give written notice to any
employer, when and as often as the Commissioner thinks
necessary, requiring the employer to furnish within a reasonable
time stated in the notice fuller or further returns respecting any matter
as to which a return is required under this Act or the Employment of
Foreign Manpower Act 1990.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

83 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(2) The requisition may specify —

(a) the form in which and the time within which the particulars
and information are to be furnished;
(b) the particulars and information to be furnished; and
(c) the place or manner at or in which the particulars and
information are to be delivered.

Power to call for returns, books, etc.

99. For the purpose of obtaining full information in respect of any
employer’s employees, the Commissioner may give written notice to
such person requiring that person, within the time stated in the notice,
to complete and deliver to the Commissioner any return specified in
the notice and in addition or alternatively requiring that person to
attend personally before the Commissioner or any inspecting officer
specified in the notice and to produce for examination any books,
documents, accounts and returns which the Commissioner may
consider necessary.
100. [Repealed by Act 32 of 2008]

Offence
101.—(1) Any employer who —
(a) wilfully refuses or without lawful excuse (the proof of
which is to lie on the employer) neglects to furnish the
particulars or information required within the time allowed
for furnishing the particulars and information, or to furnish
the particulars and information in the form specified or
prescribed, or to authenticate the particulars and
information at the place or in the manner specified or
prescribed for the delivery thereof;
(b) wilfully furnishes or causes to be furnished any false
particulars or information in respect of any matter
specified in the notice requiring particulars or
information to be furnished; or

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 84
(c) refuses to answer, or wilfully gives a false answer to, any
question necessary for obtaining any information or
particulars required to be furnished under this Act,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine
not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
6 months or to both, and in the case of a continuing offence to a
further fine not exceeding $500 for every day during which the
offence continues, and in respect of false particulars, information and
answers, the offence is deemed to continue until true particulars,
information or answers have been furnished or given.
(2) A certificate under the hand of the Commissioner stating that
such returns have not been furnished or are incorrect is sufficient
prima facie evidence of the truth of the facts stated in the certificate.
(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to any information
furnished or required to be furnished under section 96A by an
employer on the retrenchment of any employee by the employer.
[55/2018]

Returns not to be published or disclosed

102.—(1) Any return of particulars or information or part of a
return furnished, or answer to any question put, for the purposes of
this Act must not, without the previous written consent of the person
having the control, management or superintendence of the profession,
business, trade or work in relation to which the return or answer was
furnished or given, be published; and, except for the purposes of a
prosecution under this Act, any person not engaged in connection
with the collection or preparation of statistics under this Act must not
be permitted to see any such individual return or any such part of an
individual return.
(2) Every person engaged in connection with the collection,
preparation or publication of statistics under this Act must make a
declaration in the prescribed form that the person will not disclose or,
except for the purposes of this Act, make use of the contents of any
such part of an individual return, or any such answer; and any person
who knowingly acts in contravention of any declaration which the
person has so made shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

85 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a

term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(3) In any report, summary of statistics, or other publication
prepared under this Act with reference to any trade or industry, the
particulars comprised in any return must not be disclosed in any
manner whatever, or arranged in any way which would enable any
person to identify any particulars so published as being particulars
relating to any individual person or business.
(4) If any person, having possession of any information which to
the person’s knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this
section, publishes or communicates to any other person any such
information, the person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be
liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
(5) Subsections (1) to (4) do not apply to any information furnished
under section 96A by an employer on the retrenchment of any
employee by the employer.
[55/2018]

PART 13
INSPECTION AND ENQUIRY
Powers of Commissioner and inspecting officers
103.—(1) The Commissioner or any inspecting officer has, for the
purposes of this Act, power to do all or any of the following:
(a) to enter and search, by day or by night, any premises or part
thereof when he or she has reasonable cause to believe that
evidence of the commission of an offence under this Act or
of a civil contravention can be found therein;
(aa) to enter without previous notice at any reasonable time any
place of employment for the purpose of conducting any
audit in relation to the terms and conditions of employment
of any employee;
(b) to examine orally any person reasonably believed to be
acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 86
carrying out of the provisions of this Act, and to reduce
into writing the answer given or statement made by that
person;
(c) to require any person whom the Commissioner or
inspecting officer has reason to believe has any
document, including documents of identity or documents
containing information relevant to the carrying out of the
provisions of this Act, to produce any such document and
to answer such questions relating thereto as the
Commission or inspecting officer may think proper to ask;
(d) to examine notices and all documents which are required to
be kept under the provisions of this Act or any regulations
made under this Act and any document required to be
produced under paragraph (c);
(e) to make copies of or retain any notice or document
mentioned in paragraph (d);
(f) to retain for purposes of analysis samples of materials and
substances used or handled by employees, except that the
employer or the employer’s representative must be notified
of any such samples of materials or substances taken or
removed for this purpose;
(g) to take such photographs, or audio or video recording, as
the Commissioner or inspecting officer thinks necessary,
of the premises and persons reasonably believed to be
acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the
carrying out of the provisions of this Act;
(h) to require any person to produce any article that is relevant
to any investigation under this Act and, if necessary, to take
into custody any such article.
[26/2013; 27/2015]

(2) The person mentioned in subsection (1)(b) is bound to state

truly the facts and circumstances with which that person is
acquainted.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

87 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(3) A statement made by the person mentioned in subsection (1)(b)

must be read over to that person and must, after correction, if
necessary, be signed by that person.
(4) The Commissioner or the inspecting officer must, if required to
do so, show his or her credentials.

Notice to employer by Commissioner or inspecting officer of

inspection or visit
104. On entering any place of employment under section 103, the
Commissioner or the inspecting officer must notify the employer or
the employer’s representative of his or her presence unless he or she
considers that such a notification may be prejudicial to the efficient
performance of his or her duties.

Power to arrest without warrant

105.—(1) Any inspecting officer may arrest without warrant any
person whom the inspecting officer reasonably suspects —
(a) is committing or has committed an offence under
section 21, 22 or 23 read with section 34; or
(b) has abetted the commission of any offence mentioned in
paragraph (a).
[26/2013]

(2) Any inspecting officer may arrest without warrant any person
who is an officer or a member of a body corporate or an
unincorporated association or a partner of a partnership and whom
the inspecting officer reasonably suspects has consented to, connived
in or due to neglect on that person’s part caused the commission of an
offence mentioned in subsection (1)(a).
[26/2013]

(3) An inspecting officer making an arrest without warrant must,

without unnecessary delay and subject to subsection (5), produce the
person arrested before a Magistrate’s Court.
[26/2013]

(4) An inspecting officer must not detain in custody a person

arrested without warrant for longer than is reasonable in the
circumstances, and the period must not exceed 48 hours exclusive

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 88
of the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the
Magistrate’s Court.
[26/2013]

(5) Any person who has been arrested by an inspecting officer may
be released on bail, or on his or her own bond, by an inspecting
officer.
[26/2013]

How to arrest
105A.—(1) In making an arrest, an inspecting officer making the
arrest must touch or confine the body of the person to be arrested
unless the person submits to arrest by word or action.
[26/2013]

(2) If the person forcibly resists or tries to evade arrest, the

inspecting officer may use all means necessary to effect the arrest.
[26/2013]

No unnecessary restraint
105B.—(1) The person arrested must not be subjected to more
restraint than is necessary to prevent his or her escape.
[26/2013]

(2) An inspecting officer may use handcuffs or any similar means

of restraint on a person arrested to prevent him or her from —
(a) inflicting any bodily injury to himself, herself or others;
(b) damaging any property;
(c) creating any disturbance; or
(d) escaping from custody.
[26/2013]

(3) The handcuffs or similar means of restraint must not be used for
the purpose of punishment.
[26/2013]

Search of persons arrested

105C.—(1) When a person is arrested, the inspecting officer
making the arrest may search the person and take possession of all
articles (other than necessary wearing apparel) found upon the person

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

89 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

that the inspecting officer has reason to believe were connected with
the offence for which the person is being arrested.
[26/2013]

(2) Whenever it is necessary to cause a person to be searched, the

search must be made by an inspecting officer of the same sex as the
person, with strict regard to decency.
[26/2013]

Inspecting officer to be armed

105D. Every inspecting officer must be provided with such batons
and accoutrements as may be necessary for the effective discharge of
his or her duties.
[26/2013]

Power to seize offensive weapons

105E. An inspecting officer making any arrest may take from the
person arrested any offensive weapons which that person has about
his or her person.
[26/2013]

Power on escape to pursue and arrest

105F. If a person in lawful custody escapes or is rescued, the
inspecting officer from whose custody that person escaped or was
rescued may immediately pursue and arrest that person in any place
within Singapore and deal with him or her as the officer might have
done on the original arrest.
[26/2013]

Inspecting officer not to reveal secrets

106. A person must not, except in the performance of his or her
duties, reveal any manufacturing or commercial secrets which may at
any time come to his or her knowledge in the course of his or her duty
as an inspecting officer.

Disposal of documents, articles, etc.

106A.—(1) Any document, article or thing that the Commissioner
or an inspecting officer takes possession of under this Part must —

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 90
(a) where the document, article or thing is produced in any
criminal trial, be dealt with in accordance with section 364
of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010; and
(b) in any other case, be returned to the owner or reported to a
Magistrate.
[27/2015]

(2) Where the report of any document, article or thing is made to a

Magistrate under subsection (1)(b), the Magistrate may order the
document, article or thing —
(a) to be forfeited; or
(b) to be disposed of in any manner that the Magistrate thinks
fit.
[27/2015]

(3) Nothing in this section is taken to prejudice any right to retain or

dispose of property which may exist in law apart from this section.
[27/2015]

Offence
107. Any person who —
(a) without reasonable excuse, neglects or refuses to produce
any document or article as required under section 103;
(b) makes to the Commissioner or an inspecting officer
exercising the powers under section 103 a statement,
either orally or in writing, which is false in a material
particular; or
(c) otherwise hinders or obstructs the Commissioner or an
inspecting officer in the exercise of the powers under
section 103,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine
not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
6 months or to both.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

91 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 14
GENERAL
Calculation of gross and basic rates of pay of employee
employed on monthly rate or piece rates
107A.—(1) The gross rate of pay per day of an employee employed
on a monthly rate or on piece rates is to be calculated in accordance
with the second column of the Third Schedule.
(2) The basic rate of pay per day of an employee employed on a
monthly rate or on piece rates is to be calculated in accordance with
the third column of the Third Schedule.

Wrongful detention of employee

108. Any employer who without reasonable excuse, the proof of
which is to lie on the employer, refuses to allow an employee whose
contract of service has been determined in any of the ways provided
in this Act to leave the employer’s service shall be guilty of an
offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding
$5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to
both, and the whole or any portion of any fine recoverable under this
section may be adjudged by the court to be paid to the employee.

Employee not answerable for debt, default or miscarriage of

another
109. An employee is not bound, by virtue of any contract of service
under this Act, to answer for the debt, default or miscarriage of any
other person.

Obstruction of employee by employer

110. Any employer or other person who in any way obstructs any
employee in appearing before the Commissioner pursuant to this Act
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine
not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
6 months or to both.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 92
Punishment for obstruction
111. Any person who wilfully obstructs or impedes any entry,
inspection, inquiry or investigation made under this Act for which no
penalty is expressly provided shall be guilty of an offence.

Penalties
112. Any person who is guilty of any breach or any offence under
this Act for which no penalty is otherwise provided shall be liable on
conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding 6 months or to both, and for a subsequent offence
under the same section to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Abetment of offences
112A. Any person who abets the commission of an offence under
this Act shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable on conviction
to be punished with the punishment provided for that offence.
[26/2013]

Penalty for fraudulently inducing employee to emigrate

113. Any person who by force, intoxication or ill-treatment,
intimidation or fraud, or by means of false representations, induces
or attempts to induce any person to enter into a contract of service to
work beyond the limits of Singapore shall be guilty of an offence and
shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

Offences by bodies corporate, etc.

113A.—(1) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body
corporate is proved —
(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of
an officer of the body corporate; or
(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the officer’s part,
the officer as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence
and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
[26/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

93 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its

members, subsection (1) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of
a member in connection with his or her functions of management as if
he or she were a director of the body corporate.
[26/2013]

(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is

proved —
(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of
a partner; or
(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the partner’s part,
the partner as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and
shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
[26/2013]

(4) Where an offence under this Act committed by an

unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —
(a) to have been committed with the consent or connivance of
an officer of the unincorporated association or a member of
its governing body; or
(b) to be attributable to any neglect on the part of such an
officer or member,
the officer or member as well as the unincorporated association shall
be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and
punished accordingly.
[26/2013]

(5) For the purposes of this section, where an offence under this Act
has been committed by a body corporate, an unincorporated
association (other than a partnership) or a partnership, it is
presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the offence is
attributable to the neglect of an officer or a member of the body
corporate or unincorporated association or a partner of the
partnership (as the case may be) who —
(a) is primarily responsible for the act or omission which
constitutes the offence; and

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 94
(b) has failed to exercise reasonable supervision or oversight
as such officer, member or partner.
[26/2013]

(6) In this section —

“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership
registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005;
“officer” —
(a) in relation to a body corporate, means any director,
partner, member of the committee of management,
chief executive, manager, secretary or other similar
officer of the body corporate and includes any person
purporting to act in any such capacity; or
(b) in relation to an unincorporated association (other
than a partnership), means the president, the
secretary, or any member of the committee of the
unincorporated association, or any person holding a
position analogous to that of president, secretary or
member of such a committee and includes any person
purporting to act in any such capacity;
“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.
[26/2013]

(7) The Minister may make regulations to provide for the

application of any provision of this section, with such
modifications as the Minister considers appropriate, to any body
corporate or unincorporated association formed or recognised under
the law of a territory outside Singapore.
[26/2013]

Power to compound offences

114. The Commissioner may compound any such offence under
this Act as may be prescribed as being an offence which may be
compounded by accepting from the person reasonably suspected of
committing that offence a sum not exceeding $5,000.
[26/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

95 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

PART 15
CLAIMS, COMPLAINTS AND INVESTIGATIONS
INTO OFFENCES
Commissioner’s power to inquire into complaints
115.—(1) Subject to this section, the Commissioner may inquire
into and decide any dispute between an employee and his or her
employer or any person liable under the provisions of this Act to pay
any salary due to the employee where the dispute arises out of any
term in the contract of service between the employee and his or her
employer or out of any of the provisions of this Act, and pursuant to
that decision may make an order in the prescribed form for the
payment by either party of such sum of money as the Commissioner
considers just without limitation of the amount thereof.
(1A) The Commissioner must not inquire into or decide a dispute
mentioned in subsection (1) unless —
(a) the dispute is of a type prescribed by regulations made
under section 139; or
(b) a claim is lodged under section 119, in relation to the
dispute, before 1 April 2017.
[21/2016]

(2) The Commissioner must not inquire into any dispute in respect
of matters arising earlier than one year from the date of lodging a
claim under section 119 or the termination of the contract of service
of or by the person claiming under that section:
Provided that the person claiming in respect of matters arising
out of or as the result of a termination of a contract of service has
lodged a claim under section 119 within 6 months of the termination
of the contract of service.
(2A) The Commissioner may direct the parties to a dispute
mentioned in subsection (1) to attend a mediation conducted by an
approved mediator (as defined in section 2(1) of the Employment
Claims Act 2016) or a conciliation officer (as defined in section 2 of
the Industrial Relations Act 1960).
[21/2016]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 96
(3) The powers of the Commissioner under subsection (1) include
the power to hear and decide, in accordance with the procedure laid
down in this Part, any claim by a subcontractor for labour (called in
this subsection the claimant) against a contractor or subcontractor for
any sum which the claimant claims to be due to the claimant in
respect of any labour provided by the claimant under the claimant’s
contract with the contractor or subcontractor and to make such
consequential orders as may be necessary to give effect to the
Commissioner’s decision.
(3A) Where the employee is employed in a managerial or an
executive position, an order for the payment of money under
subsection (1) must not exceed $20,000.
[36/2010]

(3B) Subject to subsection (3C), any order made by the

Commissioner under subsection (1) in the absence of a party
concerned or affected by the order may be set aside or varied by
the Commissioner, on the application of that party, on such terms as
the Commissioner thinks just.
[26/2013]

(3C) An application to set aside or vary an order made by the

Commissioner referred to in subsection (3B) must be made no later
than 14 days after the date of the order.
[26/2013]

(4) In this section, “employer” includes the transferor and the

transferee of an undertaking or part thereof referred to in section 18A.

Prohibiting order by Commissioner to third party

116.—(1) Whenever the Commissioner has made an order under
section 115 against any employer or any person liable for the payment
of any sum of money to any workman or subcontractor for labour and
after inquiry finds that there exists between that employer or person
liable and some other person a contract in the course of the execution
of which the workman or subcontractor for labour performed the
work in respect of which the order has been made, the Commissioner
may summon that other person and may make an order prohibiting
that other person from paying to the employer or person liable and
requiring that other person to pay to the Commissioner any money

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

97 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(not exceeding the amount found due to the workman or

subcontractor for labour) admitted by that other person to be owing
to the employer or person liable in respect of the contract.
(2) Where that other person admits to the Commissioner in writing
that money is owing by that other person under the contract to the
employer or person liable, that other person need not be summoned
before the Commissioner and the Commissioner may make such
order in that other person’s absence.
(3) Where that other person is liable as a principal under section 65
to pay any salary due by the employer or person liable and where the
money admitted by that other person to be owing to the employer or
person liable is not sufficient to pay the whole of the salary, nothing in
this subsection relieves that other person of that other person’s
liability for the balance of the salary up to the amount for which that
other person is liable under that section.
(4) Any person so summoned is legally bound to attend at the time
and place mentioned in the summons and to answer truthfully all
questions relating to the contract which the Commissioner may put to
that person.
(5) The payment of any money pursuant to an order under
subsection (1) is a discharge and payment up to the amount so paid
of money due to the employer or person liable under the contract.

Right of appeal
117.—(1) Where any person interested is dissatisfied with the
decision or order of the Commissioner, the person may, within
14 days after the decision or order, appeal to the General Division of
the High Court from the decision or order.
[2/2012; 40/2019]

(2) The procedure governing any such appeal to the General

Division of the High Court is as provided for in the Rules of Court.
[2/2012; 40/2019]

Fees and enforcement of orders

118.—(1) No fees other than a registration fee in accordance with
the rates specified in the Second Schedule are to be charged by the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 98
Commissioner in respect of processes issued by the Commissioner
under this Part and all orders made by the Commissioner, even though
they may in respect of the amount or value be in excess of the
ordinary jurisdiction of the court, are to be enforced by a District
Court in the same manner as a judgment of that Court and all
necessary processes may be served by the Court on the
Commissioner’s behalf.
(2) A sale of immovable property must not be ordered for the
purposes of the enforcement, except by the General Division of the
High Court.
[40/2019]

Procedure for making and hearing claims

119.—(1) The mode of procedure for the making and hearing of
claims is as follows:
(a) the person claiming must lodge a memorandum at the
office of the Commissioner, specifying shortly the subject
matter of the claim and the remedy sought to be obtained,
or the person may make a claim in person to the
Commissioner who must immediately reduce it or cause
it to be reduced in writing;
(b) upon receipt of the memorandum or verbal claim and of the
registration fee payable by the person in accordance with
the rates specified in the Second Schedule, the
Commissioner must summon in writing the party against
whom the claim is made, giving reasonable notice to that
party of the nature of the claim and the time and place at
which the claim will be inquired into, and the
Commissioner must also notify or summon all persons
whose interests appear to the Commissioner likely to be
affected by the proceedings;
(c) the Commissioner may also summon such witnesses as
either party may wish to call;
(d) if the party against whom a claim is made wishes to make a
counterclaim against the party claiming, the firstmentioned
party must notify the Commissioner and the other party in

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

99 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

writing of the nature and amount of the counterclaim not

less than 3 days before the date of the inquiry;
(e) at any time between the issuing of summons and the
hearing of the claim, the Commissioner may hold or cause
to be held a preliminary inquiry at which the party claiming
and the party against whom the claim is made must be
present after having been notified in writing of the inquiry;
(f) at the preliminary inquiry the parties may amend or
withdraw the whole claim or portion thereof, make a
counterclaim or reach a settlement in respect of the claim;
(g) if a settlement is effected at a preliminary inquiry in respect
of a claim or portion thereof, the Commissioner must make
an order recording the terms of the settlement and that
order has effect as if it were an order made under
paragraph (h);
(h) at the time and place appointed the parties must attend and
state their case before the Commissioner and may call
evidence, and the Commissioner, having heard on oath or
affirmation the statements and evidence and any other
evidence which the Commissioner may consider
necessary, must give his or her decision and make such
order in the prescribed form as may be necessary for giving
effect to the decision;
(i) if any person interested has been duly summoned by the
Commissioner to attend at the inquiry and makes default in
so doing, the Commissioner may hear the claim and make
his or her decision in that person’s absence even though the
interest of that person may be prejudicially affected by the
Commissioner’s decision;
(j) the Commissioner must keep a case book, in which he or
she is to enter notes of the evidence taken and the decisions
arrived at in each case heard before him or her and must
authenticate them by attaching his or her signature thereto,
and the record in the case book is sufficient evidence of the
giving of any decision, or of the making of any order, and
of the terms thereof; and any person interested in a dispute,

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 100
decision or order, is entitled to a copy of the record upon
payment of the prescribed fee.
(2) In hearing claims or conducting proceedings under this Part, the
Commissioner —
(a) is not bound to act in a formal manner or in accordance
with the Evidence Act 1893 but may inform himself or
herself on any matters in any manner that he or she thinks
just; and
(b) must act according to equity, good conscience and the
merits of the case without regard to technicalities.
(3) All proceedings before the Commissioner are to be held in
private.
[26/2013]

Representation before Commissioner

120. In proceedings before the Commissioner, a party —
(a) being an employee and a member of a trade union that has
been given recognition under Part 3 of the Industrial
Relations Act 1960 by the employer of the employee, may
be represented by an officer of the trade union; and
(b) being an employer may be represented by one of the
employer’s employees,
but must not be represented by an advocate or solicitor or a paid
agent.
[36/2010]

Joining of claims
121.—(1) In proceedings under this Part where it appears to the
Commissioner that there are more employees or subcontractors for
labour than one having a common claim or similar claims against the
same employer or person liable, it is not necessary for each of them to
make a separate claim under this Part, but the Commissioner may
permit one or more of them to lodge a memorandum or make a claim
and to attend and act on behalf of and generally to represent the
others, and the Commissioner may proceed to adjudicate on the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

101 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

several or joint claim of each and every such employee or

subcontractor for labour.
(2) Where the Commissioner is of the opinion that the interest of the
employer or person liable is or is likely to be prejudiced by the
non-attendance of any employee or subcontractor for labour, the
Commissioner must require the personal attendance of the employee
or subcontractor for labour.

Jurisdiction of courts not affected

122. Nothing in this Part limits or affects the jurisdiction of any
court.

No division of claims
123. No claim is to be divided and pursued in separate proceedings
before the Commissioner for the sole purpose of bringing the sum
claimed in each of such proceedings within the jurisdiction of this
Act.
[26/2013]

Investigations of complaints and offences

124.—(1) Whenever —
(a) the Minister, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister,
the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Manpower, the
Commissioner or an inspecting officer (each called in this
section a relevant authority) has reasonable grounds for
believing that an offence under this Act has been
committed, or wishes to inquire into any matter for
which provision is made by this Act or any dispute as to
such matter or the death of an employee, or any matter
connected with hospital and medical facilities, quarters,
sanitation, inspections or the keeping of registers and other
documents; or
(b) whenever any person complains to a relevant authority of
any breach of any provision of this Act,
the relevant authority may summon any other person who the relevant
authority has reason to believe can give information regarding the

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 102
subject matter of the inquiry or complaint, and the person so
summoned is legally bound to attend at the time and place specified in
the summons to furnish information or documents, produce any
article or give statements, and to answer truthfully all questions which
the relevant authority may put to the person so summoned.
(2) Any person who in any way wilfully obstructs the service of or
obedience to the summons, and any person summoned who neglects
to attend as required in the summons shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) The Commissioner or inspecting officer has the power to report
any failure by such person to attend as required by a summons under
subsection (2) to a Magistrate, who may thereupon issue a warrant to
secure the attendance of that person as required by the summons.

Procedure after inquiry

125.—(1) If upon an inquiry under section 124 it appears that an
offence has been committed or that the complaint is well founded, the
Commissioner may institute such proceedings, civil or criminal, as
the Commissioner considers necessary under the circumstances and
where the proceedings arise from a complaint made by an employee
or a subcontractor for labour the Commissioner is to institute the
proceedings for and in the name of the employee or subcontractor for
labour.
(2) In the event of there being more employees or subcontractors
for labour than one making a similar complaint, the Commissioner
may, if the Commissioner institutes civil proceedings for and in the
name of those employees or subcontractors for labour, consolidate
the complaint of all those employees or subcontractors for labour into
one cause of action and the Commissioner is only required to take out
one summons for and in the name of all those employees or
subcontractors for labour in respect of such causes of action.
(3) Any court which would have jurisdiction to hear and determine
separate suits based on such causes of action is competent to hear and
determine such consolidated suit, even though the subject matter of
the consolidated subject matter suit is in excess of the ordinary
jurisdiction of that court.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

103 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(4) Judgment may be given without any amendment for such one or
more of the claimants as may be found to be entitled to relief for such
relief as one or more of them may be entitled to.
[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]

Costs of proceedings
126. No court fees are chargeable in the first instance on any
proceedings commenced by an employee or a subcontractor for
labour or by the Commissioner on behalf of the employee or the
subcontractor for labour, against the employee’s employer or other
person liable under this Act but, in case a conviction is had or
judgment is given against that employer or person liable, the court
fees are to be paid by the employer or person liable together with the
general costs of the proceedings.

PART 15A
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES
Civil contraventions
126A. The following contraventions are declared to be civil
contraventions for the purposes of this Act:
(a) a failure by an employer to comply with section 95(1),
95A(2) or 96(1);
(aa) a failure, by an employer to whom a notification under
section 96A applies, to comply with any requirement in the
notification concerning the furnishing to the
Commissioner of information on the retrenchment of any
employee by the employer;
(ab) a contravention, by an employer of any provision of any
regulations mentioned in section 139(2)(aa), that the
Minister has prescribed under section 139(2B) as a
contravention to which this section applies;
(b) provision by an employer of inaccurate information or
particulars to the Commissioner or an inspecting officer

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 104
under this Act, inadvertently or without intent to mislead or
defraud.
[27/2015; 55/2018]

Payment of administrative penalty

126B.—(1) An authorised officer may issue a contravention notice
to an employer requiring the employer to pay an administrative
penalty of the prescribed amount, for —
(a) each occasion of an alleged failure by the employer to
comply with section 95(1), 95A(2) or 96(1) with respect to
any one employee or former employee;
(aa) each occasion of an alleged failure by the employer to
comply with any requirement, in a notification under
section 96A that applies to the employer, concerning the
furnishing to the Commissioner of information on the
retrenchment of any one employee by the employer;
(ab) each occasion of an alleged contravention, of any provision
of any regulations mentioned in section 139(2)(aa), that
the Minister has prescribed under section 139(2B) as a
contravention to which section 126A applies, by the
employer; or
(b) each occasion of an alleged provision by the employer of
inaccurate information or particulars to the Commissioner
or an inspecting officer under this Act, inadvertently or
without intent to mislead or defraud.
[27/2015; 55/2018]

(2) A contravention notice must —

(a) specify the amount of administrative penalty to be paid;
(b) specify the date by which the administrative penalty must
be paid; and
(c) set out the brief details of the alleged contravention and
such other particulars as may be prescribed.
[27/2015]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

105 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(3) Different amounts of administrative penalty may be prescribed

for different civil contraventions or different circumstances in which
a civil contravention takes place.
[27/2015]

(4) Any employer who is issued a contravention notice under

subsection (1) must pay the administrative penalty specified in the
contravention notice to the authorised officer within the time, in such
mode of payment and at such place as is specified in that notice.
[27/2015]

Appeal, etc.
126C.—(1) Any employer who is issued a contravention notice by
an authorised officer under section 126B(1) (called in this section the
initial authorised officer) may —
(a) within the prescribed period and in accordance with the
prescribed procedure, request for an internal
reconsideration of the contravention notice by another
authorised officer (called in this section the reviewing
authorised officer); or
(b) within the prescribed period (and despite not requesting for
an internal reconsideration), appeal to the General Division
of the High Court which may hear and determine the
matter afresh.
[27/2015; 40/2019]

(2) A reviewing authorised officer reconsidering a contravention

notice issued to an employer must not be subordinate to the initial
authorised officer who issued the contravention notice.
[27/2015]

(3) A reviewing authorised officer may, after reconsidering the

issue of a contravention notice by the initial authorised officer —
(a) confirm the contravention notice issued by the initial
authorised officer; or
(b) cancel the contravention notice.
[27/2015]

(4) Any employer who is aggrieved by the reviewing authorised

officer’s decision under subsection (3)(a) may, within the prescribed

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 106
period, appeal to the General Division of the High Court which may
hear and determine the matter afresh.
[27/2015; 40/2019]

(5) The procedure governing any such appeal to the General

Division of the High Court is as provided in the Rules of Court.
[27/2015; 40/2019]

(6) The enforcement of the payment of any administrative penalty

required by a contravention notice to be paid under section 126B is
stayed —
(a) if a request for internal reconsideration under
subsection (1)(a) is made, until after the reconsideration
is completed; or
(b) if an appeal under subsection (1)(b) or (4) is filed, until
after the appeal is completed.
[27/2015]

(7) In relation to a contravention notice issued to an employer under

section 126B(1), where —
(a) an appeal to the General Division of the High Court has
been filed under subsection (1)(b) or (4) and the appeal is
dismissed;
(b) the prescribed period for requesting an internal
reconsideration under subsection (1)(a) has lapsed
without such request made, and the prescribed period for
filing an appeal to the General Division of the High Court
under subsection (1)(b) has lapsed and no appeal is filed; or
(c) the prescribed period for filing an appeal to the General
Division of the High Court under subsection (4) has lapsed
and no appeal is filed,
the contravention notice may, by permission of a District Court, be
enforced against the employer in the same manner as a judgment of
the District Court, and where permission is so given, judgment may
be entered in terms of that contravention notice.
[27/2015; 40/2019]
[Act 25 of 2021 wef 01/04/2022]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

107 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

(8) The initial authorised officer may, in any case in which the
initial authorised officer thinks fit, waive, remit or refund in whole or
in part any administrative penalty paid or required to be paid under
section 126B.
[27/2015]

Directions
126D.—(1) In lieu of or in addition to giving an employer a
contravention notice under section 126B, an authorised officer
may —
(a) issue such directions to the employer as the authorised
officer thinks appropriate to bring the civil contravention
to an end; and
(b) where necessary, require the employer to take such action
as is specified in the direction to remedy, mitigate or
eliminate any effects of the civil contravention and to
prevent the recurrence of the civil contravention.
[27/2015]

(2) An employer who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply

with a direction given to the employer under subsection (1) shall be
guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not
exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
6 months or to both.
[27/2015]

PART 16
PROCEDURE AND REGULATIONS
Officers to be public servants
127. For the purposes of this Act and of the Penal Code 1871, the
Commissioner, every other officer appointed or acting under this Act,
and every authorised person (when carrying out any function or duty
of the Commissioner) are deemed to be public servants within the
meaning of the Penal Code 1871.
[21/2016]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 108
Protection from personal liability
127A. No liability shall lie against any person appointed under
section 3 or any other person acting under the direction of the
Commissioner for anything which is done with reasonable care and in
good faith in the execution or purported execution of this Act.
[26/2013]

Place of employment deemed to be public place

128. For the purposes of section 14(1) of the Liquor Control
(Supply and Consumption) Act 2015, every place of employment is
deemed to be a public place.
[5/2015]

Jurisdiction of Magistrates’ and District Courts

129.—(1) Subject to any special provision to the contrary in this
Act, all convictions and penalties for offences under this Act may be
had and recovered before a Magistrate’s Court or a District Court on
complaint by any person aggrieved or by the Commissioner or any
person authorised by the Commissioner in that behalf.
(2) A Magistrate’s Court or a District Court may, despite anything
in the Criminal Procedure Code 2010, impose the full punishment
prescribed by this Act, except that a Magistrate’s Court is not to
impose a sentence of imprisonment exceeding 12 months.

Right to hearing
130. The Commissioner and any officer authorised by the
Commissioner in writing have the right to appear and be heard
before a Magistrate’s Court or a District Court in any proceedings
under this Act and also have the right to be heard before those Courts
in any prosecution under Chapter 16 of the Penal Code 1871
instituted by him or her in accordance with section 125.

Onus of proof
131. In all proceedings under Part 15, the onus of proving that a
person is not the employer or the person whose duty it is under this
Act to do or abstain from doing anything is on the person who alleges

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

109 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

that the person is not the employer or other person, as the case may
be.

Civil proceedings not barred

132. Nothing in this Act operates to prevent any employer or
employee from enforcing the employer’s or employee’s respective
civil rights and remedies for any breach or non-performance of a
contract of service by any suit in court in any case in which
proceedings are not instituted, or, if instituted, are not proceeded with
to judgment under this Act.

Power to deal with evidence taken down by another officer

133. Where the Commissioner or any officer performing the duties
or exercising the powers conferred on the Commissioner has, for the
purpose of inquiring into any matter under this Act, taken down any
evidence or made any memorandum and is prevented by death,
transfer or other cause from concluding the inquiry, any successor to
the Commissioner or other officer may deal with the evidence or
memorandum as if the successor had taken it down or made it and
proceed with the inquiry from the stage at which his or her
predecessor left it.

Application of fines
134. When under this Act any court imposes a fine or enforces the
payment of any sum secured by a recognizance or bond, the court
may direct that the whole or any part of the fine or sum when
recovered be paid to the party complaining, or where the offence was
committed by an employer in respect of a liability to pay money to an
employee, that employee.

Imprisonment to be in discharge of fine, compensation, etc.

135. Subject to any special provision to the contrary in this Act,
from and after the determination of any imprisonment suffered under
this Act for non-payment of the amount of any fine, compensation or
damages, with the costs assessed and directed to be paid by any order
of court, the amount so ordered is deemed to be liquidated and
discharged, and the order is annulled.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 110
Recovery of money as fines
136. In the event of any employer being subjected to any fine or
penalty (but not an administrative penalty under Part 15A) under the
provisions of this Act, the fine or penalty may, in addition to any other
means of recovery, be recovered by distress and sale of the place of
employment, or of any property belonging to the employer and in the
place of employment.
[27/2015]

Service of requisitions and summons

137.—(1) Any requisition issued under section 98 or 99 or any
summons issued under section 116, 119 or 124 may be served on any
person —
(a) by delivering it to the person or to some adult member of
his or her family at his or her last known place of residence;
(b) by leaving it at or sending it by registered post to the
person’s usual or last known place of residence or business
in an envelope addressed to the person; or
(c) where the person is a body of persons or a body
corporate —
(i) by delivering it to the director, manager, secretary or
other similar officer of the body of persons or body
corporate at its registered office or principal place of
business; or
(ii) by sending it by registered post addressed to the body
of persons or body corporate at its registered office or
principal place of business.
(2) Any requisition or summons sent by registered post to any
person in accordance with subsection (1) is deemed to be duly served
on the person at the time when the requisition or summons (as the
case may be) would in the ordinary course of post be delivered and, in
proving service of the requisition or summons, it is sufficient to prove
that the envelope containing the requisition or summons (as the case
may be) was properly addressed, stamped and posted by registered
post.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

111 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

Power to make reciprocal provisions with Malaysia for service,

execution and enforcement of summonses, warrants and
orders
138. If the Minister is satisfied that arrangements have been or will
be made under any legislation in force in Malaysia for the service,
execution or enforcement in Malaysia of summonses, warrants or
orders issued or made under this Act, the Minister may, by regulations
made under this Act —
(a) prescribe the procedure for sending such summonses,
warrants and orders to Malaysia for service, execution or
enforcement and specify the conditions under which any
such summons is deemed to have been served; and
(b) make reciprocal provisions for the service, execution or
enforcement in Singapore of summonses, warrants or
orders issued or made in Malaysia under any
corresponding or similar legislation in force in Malaysia.

Power to make regulations

139.—(1) The Minister may, in addition to the powers expressly
conferred by any other provisions of this Act, make regulations for
carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(2) In particular and without limiting subsection (1), the regulations
may —
(a) prescribe the circumstances and conditions under which
females may be employed as workmen;
(aa) regulate the conduct of an employer towards an employee,
for the purposes of protecting the employee from any
employment practice that may adversely affect the
employee’s wellbeing;
(b) require records to be maintained and prescribe the form
and contents thereof and the manner in which they are to be
displayed;
(c) regulate the method of collecting statistics either in
connection with or independently of any other public
department, the staff to be employed in connection

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 112
therewith, the duties to be performed and the publications
(if any) to be issued;
(d) prescribe the forms and manner in which and the times and
places at which particulars or information are to be
furnished, and the manner in which the same are to be
authenticated, and any other thing which under this Act is
required to be prescribed;
(e) exempt any employer or class of employers from the
obligation to furnish particulars or information under this
Act, either wholly or to the prescribed extent, and either
unconditionally or subject to the prescribed conditions;
(ea) prescribe any deduction that may be made under
section 27(1)(k), and the conditions for the making of
that deduction;
(f) prescribe the form of register to be kept under section 29
and the forms of orders to be made under sections 115
and 119;
(g) prescribe the fees payable for copies of notes of evidence
and decisions recorded under section 119(1)(j);
(ga) provide for any matter relating to the release of any
arrested person on any bail or bond under section 105(5);
and
(h) prescribe the administrative penalties for civil
contraventions under Part 15A of an amount not
exceeding $1,000 for each occasion of a civil
contravention, and $2,000 in the case of a second or
subsequent occasion of the civil contravention.
[26/2013; 27/2015; 55/2018]

(2A) The Minister may, in making any regulations under this Act,
provide that any contravention of the provisions of the regulations
shall be an offence punishable with a fine not exceeding —
(a) $5,000 in the case of a first conviction; and
(b) $10,000 in the case of a second or subsequent conviction
for contravening or failing to comply with the same

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

113 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

provision within one year after the immediately preceding

conviction.
[27/2015]

(2B) The Minister may, in making any regulations mentioned in

subsection (2)(aa), prescribe any contravention of any provision of
those regulations as a contravention to which section 126A applies,
instead of providing for that contravention to be an offence
mentioned in subsection (2A).
[55/2018]

(3) All regulations made under this Act must be published in the
Gazette and must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after
publication.

Amendment of Schedules
140.—(1) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend any of
the Schedules.
[55/2018]

(2) The Minister may, in an order under subsection (1), make such
provisions of a saving or transitional nature consequent to the
enactment of that order as the Minister may consider necessary or
expedient.
[55/2018]

FIRST SCHEDULE
Section 2

WORKMEN
(1) Cleaners.
(2) Construction workers.
(3) Labourers.
(4) Machine operators and assemblers.
(5) Metal and machinery workers.
(6) Train, bus, lorry and van drivers.
(7) Train and bus inspectors.
(8) All workmen employed on piece rates in the employer’s premises.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 114
SECOND SCHEDULE
Sections 118(1) and 119(1)

REGISTRATION FEE
The registration fee payable by any person making a claim with the Commissioner
for Labour is as follows:
(a) where the claim is made by an employee ... $3
(b) where the claim is made by an employer ... $20.

THIRD SCHEDULE
Section 107A

CALCULATION OF GROSS AND BASIC RATES OF

PAY OF AN EMPLOYEE EMPLOYED ON
A MONTHLY RATE OR ON PIECE RATES
First column . Second column . Third column

Item Calculation of gross rate of pay Calculation of basic rate of pay

1. Where an The gross rate of pay for one day is to be The basic rate of pay for one day is to be
employee is calculated by dividing the total salary calculated by dividing the total salary
employed on including allowances but excluding — including wage adjustments and increments
piece rates. but excluding —

(a) additional payments by way of (a) additional payments by way of

overtime payments; overtime payments;

(b) additional payments by way of bonus (b) additional payments by way of bonus
payments or annual wage payments or annual wage
supplements; supplements;

(c) any sum paid to the employee to (c) any sum paid to the employee to
reimburse him or her for special reimburse him or her for special
expenses incurred by him or her in the expenses incurred by him or her in the
course of his or her employment; course of his or her employment;

(d) productivity incentive payments; and (d) productivity incentive payments; and

(e) travelling, food and housing (e) any allowance however described,
allowances,

earned by the employee during the period of earned by the employee during the period of
14 days immediately preceding the date of 14 days immediately preceding the rest day or
termination, day of absence or period of holiday (as the case may be) by the number of
absence, holiday, day of leave or period of days on which the employee actually worked
leave, or benefit period (as the case may be) during that period of 14 days.
by the number of days on which the employee
actually worked during that period of 14 days.

2. Where an The gross rate of pay for one day is to be The basic rate of pay for one day is to be
employee is calculated according to the following calculated according to the following
employed on a formula: formula:
monthly rate
of pay and the
number of 12  monthly gross rate of pay 12  monthly basic rate of pay
days on which 52  number of days on which the 52  number of days on which the
employee is required to work in a week: employee is required to work in a week:

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

115 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

THIRD SCHEDULE — continued

the employee
is required to
work in a
week is the
same in every
week under
his or her
contract of
service.

First column . Second column . Third column

Item Calculation of gross rate of pay Calculation of basic rate of pay

3. Where an The gross rate of pay for one day is to be The basic rate of pay for one day is to be
employee is calculated according to the following calculated according to the following
employed on a formula: formula:
monthly rate of
pay and is
required under 12  monthly gross rate of pay 12  monthly basic rate of pay
his or her 52  average number of days 52  average number of days
contract of on which the employee is required on which the employee is required
service to work to work in a week over any period to work in a week over any period
on a certain of 2 consecutive weeks: of 2 consecutive weeks:
number of days
in one week and
on a different
number of days
in the following
week in every
period of
2 consecutive
weeks

4. Where an The gross rate of pay for one day is to be The basic rate of pay for one day is to be
employee is calculated according to the following formula calculated according to the following formula
employed on a or such other formula as the Commissioner or such other formula as the Commissioner
monthly rate of may approve: may approve:
pay and is
required under
his or her 12  monthly gross rate of pay 12  monthly basic rate of pay
contract of 52  average number of 52  average number of
service to work working days in a week: working days in a week:
on different
number of days
in different
weeks.

5. In this Schedule —
“average number of working days in a week” means —
(a) for the purposes of calculating, under section 11(1), the salary
that is payable in lieu of notice of termination —
(i) the average number of days on which the employee
was required, under his or her contract of service, to

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 116
THIRD SCHEDULE — continued
work in a week over the period of 3 weeks immediately
preceding the termination of the contract; or
(ii) where the employee was in employment for less than
3 weeks, the average number of days on which the
employee would have been required to work in a week
over the first 3 weeks of his or her employment, if the
contract of service had not been terminated;
(b) for the purposes of calculating, under section 28(2), the salary
that may be deducted for absence from work —
(i) the average number of days on which the employee
was required, under his or her contract of service, to
work in a week over the period of 3 weeks immediately
preceding the day of absence or period of absence, as
the case may be; or
(ii) where the employee was in employment for less than
3 weeks, the average number of days on which the
employee was required to work under his or her
contract of service in a week over the period of 3 weeks
immediately following the day of absence or period of
absence, as the case may be;
(c) in any other case —
(i) the average number of days on which the employee
was required, under his or her contract of service, to
work in a week over the period of 3 weeks immediately
preceding the rest day, holiday, day of leave or period
of leave, as the case may be; or
(ii) where the employee was in employment for less than
3 weeks, the average number of days on which the
employee was required to work under his or her
contract of service in a week over the period of 3 weeks
immediately following the rest day, holiday, day of
leave or period of leave, as the case may be;
“week” means a continuous period of 7 days commencing at midnight on
Sunday.
6. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of the definition of “average number of working days
in a week” in item 5 are not applicable in the third column.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

117 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

THIRD SCHEDULE — continued

7. In calculating the number of working days in a week or the average number of
working days in a week, any day on which an employee is required to work for
5 hours or less under his or her contract of service is to be regarded as half a day.

FOURTH SCHEDULE
Section 38(6)

EMPLOYEE’S HOURLY BASIC RATE OF PAY FOR

CALCULATION OF PAYMENT DUE FOR OVERTIME
First column . Second column
Type of employee Calculation of hourly basic rate of pay
1. A workman employed on a . 12  monthly basic rate of pay
52  44
monthly rate of pay
2. A non-workman employed on a 12monthly basic rate of pay
5244
monthly basic rate of pay
3. [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
4. A workman employed on piece The total weekly pay at the basic rate
rates of pay received divided by the total
number of hours worked in the week
5. A non-workman employed on The total weekly pay at the basic rate
piece rates of pay received divided by the total
number of hours worked in the week
6. A workman employed on an Actual hourly basic rate of pay
hourly rate of pay
7. A non-workman employed on an Actual hourly basic rate of pay
hourly rate of pay
8. A workman employed on a daily Daily basic rate of pay divided by the
rate of pay number of working hours per day
9. A non-workman employed on a Daily basic rate of pay divided by the
daily rate of pay number of working hours per day

[26/2013; 55/2018]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

2020 Ed. Employment Act 1968 118
FIFTH SCHEDULE
Section 76(1)

NUMBER OF DAYS ON WHICH A FEMALE

EMPLOYEE IS ENTITLED TO ABSENT HERSELF
FROM WORK UNDER SECTION 76(1)(c)(II)
First column . Second column
Number of days on which a Calculation of total number of days on
female employee is required to which a female employee is entitled to
work under her contract of absent herself from work under
service (called in this Schedule section 76(1)(c)(ii) for one or more
her work days) periods
1. Where the number of work . 4 × the number of work days in a week
days in a week is the same in
every week.
2. Where the number of work
days varies from one week to 4  the total number of work days
in the number of fixed weeks
another and there is a The number of fixed weeks
consistent or regular pattern
repeated over a number of
fixed weeks.
3. Where the number of work 4 × the average number of work days in a
days varies from one week to week over the period of 3 weeks
another and there is no immediately preceding the day of
consistent or regular pattern confinement or the first day of leave,
repeated over a number of whichever is the earlier
fixed weeks.

4. In this Schedule, the calculation of the number of days on which a female

employee is entitled to absent herself from work under section 76(1)(c)(ii) is
to be determined in accordance with her work pattern under her contract of
service immediately preceding the day of confinement or the first day of
leave, whichever is the earlier.
5. In this Schedule, where the number of days in the second column is not a
whole number, that number is to be rounded down to the nearest half day or
whole day.
6. In this Schedule —
“week” means a continuous period of 7 days commencing at midnight on
Sunday;

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

119 Employment Act 1968 2020 Ed.

FIFTH SCHEDULE — continued

“work pattern” means a work pattern described in item 1, 2 or 3 in the first
column.
7. In calculating the number of work days, any day on which a female employee
is required to work for 5 hours or shorter under her contract of service is to be
regarded as half a day.

[26/2013]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
EMPLOYMENT ACT 1968
This Legislative History is a service provided by the Law Revision Commission
on a best-efforts basis. It is not part of the Act.

PICTORIAL OVERVIEW OF PREDECESSOR ACTS

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY DETAILS

PART 1
LABOUR ORDINANCE
(CHAPTER 69, 1936 REVISED EDITION)
1. Ordinance I of 1882 — Labour Contracts Ordinance, 1882
Bill : G.N. No. 196/1881
First Reading : 18 October 1881
Second Reading : 22 November 1881
Notice of Amendments : 29 November 1881
Third Reading : 28 February 1882
Date of publication : 28 February 1882
Note: This Ordinance ceased the application of Indian Act XIII of 1859 and
repealed section 429 of the Penal Code.

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 ii

2. Ordinance III of 1883 — The Labour Contracts Amendment Ordinance,

1883
Bill : G.N. No. 161/1883
First Reading : 4 April 1883
Second and Third Readings : 17 April 1883
Commencement : 17 April 1883
3. Ordinance XXI of 1889 — The Labour Contracts Ordinance
Amendment Ordinance 1889
Bill : G.N. No. 476/1889
First Reading : 31 October 1889
Second Reading : 12 December 1889
Notice of Amendments : 12 December 1889
Third Reading : 13 December 1889
Commencement : 13 December 1889
4. Ordinance VIII of 1891 — The Chinese Agricultural Labourers
Protection Ordinance 1891
Bill : G.N. No. 514/1891
First Reading : 15 October 1891
Second Reading : 29 October 1891
Notice of Amendments : 30 October 1891
Third Reading : 5 November 1891
Commencement : 1 January 1893
5. Ordinance XVI of 1914 — The Labour Contracts Ordinance 1914
Bill : G.N. No. 485/1913
First Reading : 27 June 1913
Second Reading : 22 August 1913
Notice of Amendments : 13 March 1914
Third Reading : 27 March 1914
Commencement : 4 April 1914

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 iii
6. Ordinance 19 of 1920 — Labour Ordinance, 1920
Bill : G.N. No. 392/1920
First Reading : 12 April 1920
Second Reading : 31 May 1920
Select Committee Report : Council Paper No. 23 of 1920
Third Reading : 3 September 1920
Commencement : 1 April 1921
7. Ordinance 14 of 1923 — Labour Ordinance, 1923
Bill : G.N. 819/1923
First Reading : 28 May 1923
Second Reading : 25 June 1923
Select Committee Report : Information not available
Notice of Amendments : 30 July 1923
Third Reading : 30 July 1923
Commencement : 1 October 1923
8. 1926 Revised Edition — Ordinance No. 197 (Labour)
Operation : 1 August 1926
9. Ordinance 34 of 1926 — The Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1926
Bill : G.N. No. 1754/1926
First Reading : 11 October 1926
Second Reading : 1 November 1926
Notice of Amendments : 13 December 1926
Third Reading : 13 December 1926
Commencement : 16 December 1926
10. Ordinance 18 of 1928 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1928
Bill : G.N. 1239/1928
First Reading : 2 July 1928
Second Reading : 27 August 1928
Notice of Amendments : 27 August 1928
Third Reading : 8 October 1928

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 iv
Commencement : 22 October 1928
11. Ordinance 6 of 1930 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1930
Bill : G.N. No. 894/1930
First Reading : 12 May 1930
Second and Third Readings : 7 July 1930
Commencement : 1 August 1930
12. Ordinance 15 of 1932 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1932
Bill : G.N. No. 1311/1932
First Reading : 8 August 1932
Second and Third Readings : 19 October 1932
Commencement : 10 November 1932
13. Ordinance 33 of 1933 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1933
Bill : G.N. No. 1996/1933
First Reading : 25 October 1933
Second Reading : 4 December 1933
Notice of Amendments : 4 December 1933
Third Reading : 4 December 1933
Commencement : 14 December 1933
14. Ordinance 50 of 1935 — The Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1935
Bill : G.N. No. 2606/1935
First Reading : 28 October 1935
Second and Third Readings : 20 November 1935
Commencement : 2 December 1935
15. 1936 Revised Edition — Labour Ordinance (Chapter 69)
Operation : 1 September 1936
16. Ordinance 63 of 1940 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1940
Bill : G.N. No. 3363/1940
First Reading : 14 October 1940
Second and Third Readings : 6 November 1940
Commencement : 30 November 1940

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 v
17. Ordinance 61 of 1941 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1941
Bill : G.N. No. 2437/1941
First Reading : 13 October 1941
Second and Third Readings : 5 November 1941
Commencement : 1 January 1941
18. Ordinance 21 of 1941 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1941
Bill : G.N. No. 452/1941
First Reading : 28 April 1941
Second and Third Readings : 9 June 1941
Commencement : 25 June 1941
19. Ordinance 10 of 1947 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1947
Bill : G.N. No. S 24/1947
First Reading : Information not available
Second Reading : Information not available
Third Reading : 20 February 1947
Commencement : 26 March 1947
20. Ordinance 8 of 1953 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1953
Bill : 37/1952
First Reading : 14 October 1952
Second Reading : 18 November 1952
Select Committee Report : Council Paper No. 9 of 1953
Third Reading : 17 March 1953
Commencement : 22 March 1953
21. Ordinance 24 of 1953 — Seats for Shop Assistants Ordinance, 1953
Bill : 14/1953
First Reading : 16 June 1953
Second and Third Readings : 21 July 1953
Commencement : 1 March 1954

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 vi
22. G.N. No. S 265/1955 — Singapore Colony Order in Council, 1955
(Consequential Provisions) (Miscellaneous)
Order, 1955
Commencement : 17 September 1955
23. 1955 Revised Edition — Seats for Shop Assistants Ordinance
(Chapter 272)
Operation : 1 July 1956

PART 3
WEEKLY HOLIDAYS ORDINANCE
(CHAPTER 156, 1955 REVISED EDITION)
24. Ordinance 4 of 1949 — Weekly Holidays Ordinance, 1949
Bill : G.N. No. S 287/1948
First Reading : 14 September 1948
Second Reading : 19 October 1948
Select Committee Report : Council Paper No. 75 of 1948
Third Reading : 15 February 1949
Commencement : 1 July 1950
25. Ordinance 47 of 1950 — Weekly Holidays (Amendment) Ordinance,
1950
Bill : G.N. S 562/1950
First, Second and Third : 19 December 1950
Readings
Commencement : 22 December 1950
26. 1955 Revised Edition — Weekly Holidays Ordinance (Chapter 156)
Operation : 1 July 1956

PART 4
CLERKS EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE, 1957
(ORDINANCE 14 OF 1957)
27. Ordinance 14 of 1957 — Clerks Employment Ordinance, 1957
Bill : 62/1956
First Reading : 5 September 1956
Second Reading : 3 October 1956

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 vii
Select Committee Report : Sessional Paper No. L.A. 2 of 1957
Third Reading : 30 April 1957
Commencement : 1 August 1957

PART 5
LABOUR ORDINANCE, 1955
(ORDINANCE 40 OF 1955)
28. Ordinance 40 of 1955 — Labour Ordinance, 1955
Bill : 3/1955
First Reading : 26 April 1955
Second Reading : 29 June 1955
Select Committee Report : Sessional Paper No. L.A. 12 of 1955
Notice of Amendments : 22 November 1955
Third Reading : 22 November 1955
Commencement : 1 December 1955
29. Ordinance 33 of 1957 — Labour (Amendment) Ordinance, 1957
Bill : 114/1957
First Reading : 21 August 1957
Second and Third Readings : 12 September 1957
Commencement : 30 September 1957
30. G.N. No. S 36/1958 — “The Labour Ordinance, 1955”
Commencement : 14 February 1958
31. Ordinance 23 of 1958 — Indian Immigration Fund (Winding Up)
Ordinance, 1958
(Amendments made by section 5 of the above Ordinance)
Bill : 156/1958
First Reading : 11 June 1958
Second and Third Readings : 16 July 1958
Commencement : 1 September 1958 (section 5)

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 viii
PART 6
SHOP ASSISTANTS EMPLOYMENT ORDINANCE, 1957
(ORDINANCE 13 OF 1957)
32. Ordinance 13 of 1957 — Shop Assistants Employment Ordinance, 1957
Bill : 63/1956
First Reading : 5 September 1956
Second Reading : 4 October 1956
Select Committee Report : Sessional Paper No. L.A. 3 of 1957
Notice of Amendments : 30 April 1957
Third Reading : 30 April 1957
Commencement : 1 August 1957

PART 7
EMPLOYMENT ACT 1968
(2020 REVISED EDITION)
33. Act 17 of 1968 — Employment Act, 1968
Bill : 21/1968
First Reading : 15 May 1968
Second Reading : 10 July 1968
Notice of Amendments : 31 July 1968
Commencement : 15 August 1968
34. 1970 Revised Edition — Employment Act (Chapter 122)
Operation : 30 April 1971
35. Act 19 of 1971 — Employment (Amendment) Act, 1971
Bill : 11/1971
First Reading : 19 October 1971
Second Reading : 2 December 1971
Notice of Amendments : 2 December 1971
Third Reading : 2 December 1971
Commencement : 3 December 1971
36. Act 28 of 1972 — Employment (Amendment) Act, 1972
Bill : 28/1972

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 ix
First Reading : 17 October 1972
Second and Third Readings : 3 November 1972
Commencement : 1 July 1972
37. Act 41 of 1973 — Employment (Amendment) Act, 1973
Bill : 20/1973
First Reading : 11 July 1973
Second and Third Readings : 25 July 1973
Commencement : 1 September 1973
38. Act 46 of 1975 — Employment (Amendment) Act, 1975
Bill : 43/1975
First Reading : 19 August 1975
Second Reading : 20 November 1975
Notice of Amendments : 20 November 1975
Third Reading : 20 November 1975
Commencement : 26 December 1975 (section 2)
2 January 1976 (except section 2)
39. Act 33 of 1980 — Employment (Amendment) Act, 1980
Bill : 21/1980
First Reading : 31 October 1980
Second and Third Readings : 28 November 1980
Commencement : 1 July 1980
40. G.N. No. S 324/1980 — Employment Act (Substitution of Second
Schedule) Notification, 1980
Commencement : 1 December 1980
41. 1981 Reprint — Employment Act (Chapter 122)
Reprint : 28 February 1981
42. Act 21 of 1984 — Employment (Amendment) Act 1984
Bill : 22/1984
First Reading : 29 June 1984
Second and Third Readings : 26 July 1984
Commencement : 7 January 1985

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 x
43. 1985 Revised Edition — Employment Act (Chapter 91)
Operation : 30 March 1987
44. Act 21 of 1988 — Employment (Amendment) Act 1988
Bill : 18/1988
First Reading : 29 July 1988
Second and Third Readings : 11 August 1988
Commencement : 26 August 1988
45. G.N. No. S 475/1990 — Employment Act (Amendment of Second
Schedule) Notification 1990
Commencement : 1 January 1991
46. Act 15 of 1995 — Bankruptcy Act 1995
(Amendments made by section 167(4) read with item (6) of the Second
Schedule to the above Act)
Bill : 16/1994
First Reading : 25 July 1994
Second Reading : 25 August 1994
Select Committee Report : Parl. 1 of 1995
Third Reading : 23 March 1995
Commencement : 15 July 1995 (section 167(4) read with
item (6) of the Second Schedule)
47. Act 36 of 1995 — Employment (Amendment) Act 1995
Bill : 35/1995
First Reading : 27 September 1995
Second and Third Readings : 1 November 1995
Commencement : 1 March 1996
48. 1996 Revised Edition — Employment Act (Chapter 91)
Operation : 30 April 1996
49. Act 41 of 2004 — Employment (Amendment) Act 2004
Bill : 40/2004
First Reading : 1 September 2004
Second and Third Readings : 21 September 2004

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xi
Commencement : 1 October 2004
50. Act 30 of 2007 — Employment of Foreign Workers (Amendment) Act
2007
(Amendments made by section 28 read with item (1) of the Schedule to the
above Act)
Bill : 17/2007
First Reading : 9 April 2007
Second and Third Readings : 22 May 2007
Commencement : 1 July 2007 (section 28 read with
item (1) of the Schedule)
51. Act 22 of 2007 — Dentists (Amendment) Act 2007
(Amendments made by section 39 read with item (4) of the Schedule to the
above Act)
Bill : 9/2007
First Reading : 27 February 2007
Second and Third Readings : 12 April 2007
Commencement : 1 January 2008 (section 39 read with
item (4) of the Schedule)
52. Act 5 of 2008 — Workmen’s Compensation (Amendment) Act 2008
(Amendments made by section 40 read with item (5) of the Schedule to the
above Act)
Bill : 50/2007
First Reading : 12 November 2007
Second and Third Readings : 22 January 2008
Commencement : 1 April 2008 (section 40 read with
item (5) of the Schedule)
53. Act 28 of 2008 — Children Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Act
2008
(Amendments made by section 21 of the above Act)
Bill : 26/2008
First Reading : 15 September 2008
Second and Third Readings : 21 October 2008
Commencement : 31 October 2008 (section 21)

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xii
54. Act 32 of 2008 — Employment (Amendment) Act 2008
Bill : 34/2008
First Reading : 20 October 2008
Second and Third Readings : 18 November 2008
Commencement : 1 January 2009
55. G.N. No. S 669/2008 — Employment Act (Amendment of First Schedule)
Notification 2008
Commencement : 1 January 2009
56. Act 7 of 2009 — Civil Law (Amendment) Act 2009
(Amendments made by section 7 read with item (4) of the Schedule to the
above Act)
Bill : 38/2008
First Reading : 17 November 2008
Second and Third Readings : 19 January 2009
Commencement : 1 March 2009 (section 7 read with
item (4) of the Schedule)
57. 2009 Revised Edition — Employment Act (Chapter 91)
Operation : 31 July 2009
58. Act 4 of 2010 — Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2010
(Amendments made by section 14 of the above Act)
Bill : 26/2009
First Reading : 23 November 2009
Second and Third Readings : 12 January 2010
Commencement : 5 February 2010 (section 14)
59. Act 36 of 2010 — Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2010
(Amendments made by section 6 of the above Act)
Bill : 31/2010
First Reading : 18 October 2010
Second and Third Readings : 22 November 2010
Commencement : 1 February 2011 (section 6)

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xiii
60. Act 2 of 2012 — Statutes (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2012
(Amendments made by section 2 of the above Act)
Bill : 22/2011
First Reading : 21 November 2011
Second Reading : 18 January 2012
Notice of Amendments : 18 January 2012
Third Reading : 18 January 2012
Commencement : 1 March 2012 (section 2)
61. Act 12 of 2013 — Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Act 2013
(Amendments made by section 21 of the above Act)
Bill : 10/2013
First Reading : 15 March 2013
Second Reading : 8 April 2013
Notice of Amendments : 8 April 2013
Third Reading : 8 April 2013
Commencement : 1 May 2013 (section 21)
62. Act 6 of 2014 — Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) Act
2014
(Amendments made by section 83 of the above Act)
Bill : 27/2013
First Reading : 11 November 2013
Second and Third Readings : 21 January 2014
Commencement : 1 April 2014 (section 83)
63. Act 26 of 2013 — Employment, Parental Leave and Other Measures Act
2013
(Amendments made by section 2 of the above Act)
Bill : 21/2013
First Reading : 21 October 2013
Second and Third Readings : 12 November 2013
Commencement : 1 April 2014 (section 2 except
section 2(14)(c) and (15))
1 April 2015 (section 2(15))

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xiv
64. Act 27 of 2014 — Family Justice Act 2014
(Amendments made by section 56 of the above Act)
Bill : 21/2014
First Reading : 8 July 2014
Second Reading : 4 August 2014
Notice of Amendments : 4 August 2014
Third Reading : 4 August 2014
Commencement : 1 October 2014 (section 56)
65. Act 5 of 2015 — Liquor Control (Supply and Consumption) Act 2015
(Amendments made by section 38(3) of the above Act)
Bill : 1/2015
First Reading : 19 January 2015
Second and Third Readings : 30 January 2015
Commencement : 1 April 2015 (section 38(3))
66. Act 27 of 2015 — Employment (Amendment) Act 2015
Bill : 23/2015
First Reading : 13 July 2015
Second and Third Readings : 17 August 2015
Commencement : 22 August 2015 (except sections 2(b),
9, 10, 11(a), 13, 14, 15(a) and 17)
1 April 2016 (sections 2(b), 9, 10,
11(a), 13, 14, 15(a) and 17)
67. Act 21 of 2016 — Employment Claims Act 2016
(Amendments made by section 38 of the above Act)
Bill : 20/2016
First Reading : 11 July 2016
Second and Third Readings : 16 August 2016
Commencement : 1 April 2017 (section 38)
68. Act 55 of 2018 — Employment (Amendment) Act 2018
Bill : 47/2018
First Reading : 2 October 2018
Second Reading : 20 November 2018

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xv
Notice of Amendments : 20 November 2018
Third Reading : 20 November 2018
Commencement : 1 April 2019
69. Act 30 of 2019 — Children and Young Persons (Amendment) Act 2019
(Amendments made by section 63 of the above Act)
Bill : 22/2019
First Reading : 5 August 2019
Second and Third Readings : 4 September 2019
Commencement : 1 July 2020 (section 63)
70. Act 40 of 2018 — Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018
(Amendments made by section 474 of the above Act)
Bill : 32/2018
First Reading : 10 September 2018
Second and Third Readings : 1 October 2018
Commencement : 30 July 2020 (section 474)
71. Act 27 of 2019 — Work Injury Compensation Act 2019
(Amendments made by section 83(1) of the above Act)
Bill : 21/2019
First Reading : 5 August 2019
Second and Third Readings : 3 September 2019
Commencement : 1 September 2020 (section 83(1))
72. Act 40 of 2019 — Supreme Court of Judicature (Amendment) Act 2019
(Amendments made by section 28(1) read with item 46 of the Schedule to the
above Act)
Bill : 32/2019
First Reading : 7 October 2019
Second Reading : 5 November 2019
Notice of Amendments : 5 November 2019
Third Reading : 5 November 2019
Commencement : 2 January 2021 (section 28(1) read
with item 46 of the Schedule)

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xvi
73. Act 19 of 2021 — Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Act 2021
(Amendments made by section 39 of the above Act)
Bill : 15/2021
First Reading : 5 July 2021
Second and Third Readings : 2 August 2021
Commencement : 1 November 2021 (section 39(1)
and (3))
74. 2020 Revised Edition — Employment Act 1968
Operation : 31 December 2021
75. G.N. No. S 26/2022 — Variable Capital Companies (Consequential
Amendments to Other Acts) Order 2022
Commencement : 13 January 2022
76. Act 25 of 2021 — Courts (Civil and Criminal Justice) Reform Act 2021
(Amendments made by)
Bill : 18/2021
First Reading : 26 July 2021
Second and Third Readings : 14 September 2021
Commencement : 1 April 2022
77. Act 19 of 2021 — Child Development Co-Savings (Amendment) Act 2021
(Amendments made by)
Bill : 15/2021
First Reading : 5 July 2021
Second and Third Readings : 2 August 2021
Commencement : 29 May 2022 (section 2(2) and 39(2))

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 xvii
Abbreviations
C.P. Council Paper
G.N. No. S (N.S.) Government Notification Number Singapore (New Series)
G.N. No. Government Notification Number
G.N. No. S Government Notification Number Singapore
G.N. Sp. No. S Government Notification Special Number Singapore
L.A. Legislative Assembly
L.N. Legal Notification (Federal/Malaysian Subsidiary
Legislation)
M. Act Malayan Act/Malaysia Act
M. Ordinance Malayan Ordinance
Parl. Parliament
S.S.G.G. (E) No. Straits Settlements Government Gazette (Extraordinary)
Number
S.S.G.G. No. Straits Settlements Government Gazette Number

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022

 COMPARATIVE TABLE
EMPLOYMENT ACT 1968
This Act has undergone renumbering in the 2020 Revised Edition. This
Comparative Table is provided to help readers locate the corresponding provisions
in the last Revised Edition.

2020 Ed. 2009 Ed.

53 53—(1)
— (2) [Deleted by Act 32 of 2008]
— (3) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
— 84—(4) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
— (5) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
— (6) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]
— (7) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]

Informal Consolidation – version in force from 29/5/2022