New salary rules for hiring foreign workers: MOM

Firms looking to hire foreigners must now pay their full-time local workers at least $1,000 a month.

This new requirement was announced by Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan Jin in Parliament on Thursday.

Tan also revealed new changes to be made to the Employment Act which will benefit up to 450,000 workers once they come into effect in 2014.

Here's who will benefit and how: 

With effect from 2014, the Employment Act will cover non-manual workers earning up to $2,500, making them eligible for over-time pay. 150,000 workers are expected to benefit from this change. Previously, only non-workmen earning up to $2,000 qualified.

Tan said that to help employers manage their costs, the amount of over-time payable will be capped at a salary level of $2,250, meaning that workers earning between $2,250 to $2,500 would get the same over-time rate of $17.70 per hour.

A total of 300,000 professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) earning up to $4,500 will now also be protected by the Employment Act. Currently, they are only covered by the EA in one aspect of salary payments.

With the changes, PMEs will be protected against unfair dismissal and enjoy sick leave benefits. However, they will still be exempt from the section of the Act which deals with working hours and over-time pay.

Other post-review changes to the Act include mandatory payslips and enhanced penalties on employers who fail to pay salaries.

Tan added that there would be a second phase of reviewing the Employment Act where his Ministry would try to explore how contract workers, free-lancers and self-employed Singaporeans can be better protected.

MOM intends to table an amendment bill in the second half of this year, with the changes coming into effect in the first half of 2014.

Additional reporting by Nurul Azliah Aripin and Shah Salimat

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