WORKERS facing workplace discrimination should be able to receive more remedies or compensation, and errant employers or individuals should face more penalties, under interim proposals for Singapore’s eventual anti-discrimination laws.

The Tripartite Committee on Workplace Fairness (TCWF) proposes to ban discrimination related to five key characteristics: age; nationality; sex, marital status, pregnancy status, and caregiving responsibilities; race, religion and language; as well as disability and mental health conditions.

But there should be exceptions, including for genuine business needs and small firms, the committee recommended in an interim report on Monday (Feb 13).

The five suggested characteristics account for more than 95 per cent of discrimination complaints handled by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices from 2018 to 2022.

Beyond these five, “all forms of discrimination will remain covered” under the existing Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices, which employers are already required to follow, said TCWF co-chair and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng at a press conference.

Plans to legislate against workplace discrimination were first mentioned in the 2021 National Day Rally. While laws and guidelines are “not a panacea”, by enshrining fair employment guidelines in law, the government is sending the “strongest signal that we have zero tolerance for any form of workplace discrimination”, said Dr Tan.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

But as Singapore is an open economy, a balance had to be drawn in deciding what aspects should become law, he added: “For us to remain competitive, it shouldn’t be that our legislative framework is overly onerous, that it becomes a deterrent (to investors).”

Currently, those who face workplace discrimination can only receive redress in cases of wrongful dismissal. The proposed law instead applies at all stages, from recruitment to employment – including promotions and training – to dismissal. It also allows for both monetary compensation and non-monetary remedies, such as a reinstated employment offer.

Compensation of up to S$5,000 is proposed for pre-employment claims. For claims during and after employment, the proposed amounts are up to S$20,000 for non-union members and S$30,000 for union-assisted cases.

Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry board member Kohe Hasan, who is also a TCWF member, said: “Through the proposed legislation, a broader range of measures are available in the event that workplace fairness is not observed.”

The only current enforcement option is the suspension of employers’ foreign work pass privileges. TCWF proposes a range of “enforcement levers” instead, from corrective orders such as getting firms to review hiring processes, to “administrative penalties” requiring payment, to civil penalties. Individuals – not just businesses – may also face such action.

Another proposal is to ban employers from retaliating against those who report workplace discrimination, such as by wrongful dismissal or unauthorised salary deduction.

There should be exceptions, however, where a protected characteristic is a “genuine and reasonable job requirement”, said the TCWF. One example is a wellness establishment requiring therapists to be female if they give body massages to female customers. Small firms with fewer than 25 employees should also be exempt for a start, with a view to lowering this headcount cut-off in five years, suggested TCWF. Such firms employ about a quarter of workers here.

While it would be ideal for all workers to be covered by the proposed legislation, smaller firms may need time to build up their human resource capabilities, said Mathew Mathews, principal research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.

But even if smaller firms are exempt, they should not be complacent, said Kurt Wee, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises: “Micro companies should take the signal of the expectations of this framework, and actually use this time to start to build the right practices and administrative processes.”

Other suggested exemptions are allowing religious organisations to have religious requirements for any job role, as well as letting employers favour persons with disabilities and workers aged 55 and older when hiring, in line with national efforts to promote their employment.

A month-long public consultation has begun. After this and further consultations with stakeholders, the committee’s full report will be released, with the aim of introducing legislation in 2024.

But even if the law is passed, workplace discrimination claims should still undergo compulsory mediation at the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management, with adjudication at the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) as a last resort. Mediation should focus on correcting errant practices and mending the employment relationship where possible, said the TCWF.

This is in line with the tripartite approach of maintaining a “non-litigious culture”, said TCWF co-chair and National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) secretary-general Ng Chee Meng: “NTUC sees this legislation as a deterrent legislation; we much prefer workplace issues to be mediated in an amicable (manner).”

Employers tend to be against legislation as it slows businesses down and raises costs, said TCWF co-chair and Singapore National Employers Federation president Robert Yap. “But we (the tripartite partners) have deliberated that, and decided that this is a good balance for us to move forward, because it also gives some kind of clarity in terms of what is defined as discrimination.”

Agreeing on the importance of clarity, Nanyang Technological University associate professor Steven Ang said that businesses are burdened not by laws, but by uncertainty. He added: “Having guidelines, to the extent that these are not as certain or clear or comprehensive as we may hope these potential laws will be, will leave us in more of that uncertainty than the enactment of new laws.”

To prevent frivolous or vexatious claims, the ECT can strike out such attempts, and award costs of up to S$5,000 to be paid by the unsuccessful claimant.