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Nearly 1,000 Companies in S’pore Being Watched Closely To See If They’re Discriminating Against Local Workers

2020-03-04 , 2:00 pm

You’re fresh out of school, you’re probably applying to as many jobs as you can, hoping that at least one of your preferred companies would pick you so that you can have a job.

And then, you find out, that they’ve picked someone else over you.

I’m pretty good too, why didn’t they pick me? But it’s fine, I’ll just find somewhere else, right? It’s their loss.

And then, you find out, that the reason you didn’t get picked was because of something in their policy that pretty much screams discrimination.

Or maybe, your dad has just gotten retrenched, and he applied to get a job related to what he has been working as his entire life, only to be rejected because he’s “too old”.

While you may think that this probably wouldn’t happen in a country like Singapore, it does, and it happens way more than you think.

Nearly 1,000 Companies Placed On Watchlist For Discriminating Against Local Workers

According to Singapore’s Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, nearly 1,000 companies have been placed on the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) Watchlist after they were suspected to be discriminating against local workers.

Some of them have a surprisingly large amount of foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) as compared to other companies in the same industry.

Either that or high concentrations of single nationalities.

As a result, their Employment Pass (EP) applications will either be scrutinised or withheld.

As of now, about 3,000 EP applications have been rejected or withheld by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) or withdrawn by the companies themselves.

During this time, firms under the FCF have also hired more than 4,400 Singaporean PMETs.

I guess they’re trying to get off the radar by hiring Singaporeans instead of discriminating for the time being.

MOM has also directly contacted an additional 350 companies not on the list because their workforce profiles are a “cause for concern”, and they have taken the necessary measures to “strengthen local hiring”.

Mrs Teo added, “But it also means that having served notice to these employers, MOM will not hesitate to put them on the FCF Watchlist if their workforce profiles deteriorate.”

So, we’ve been talking a lot about FCF.

What Is FCF?

In case you don’t know what FCF is, it is a framework that was established in August 2014.

Its purpose? To make sure that “all employers in Singapore to consider the workforce in Singapore fairly for job opportunities”.

In other words, make sure companies don’t hire foreigners because they’re cheaper lah.

In order to ensure fair hiring and prevent employers from abusing their position of power to reserve job openings to “closed circles of friends”, it is compulsory for employers to advertise job openings on MyCareersFuture.sg before the submission of their EP applications under the FCF.

If they can show that there are no “eligible” Singaporeans, then they’re safe.

It’s Not Foolproof, Though

There are some employers that do the advertising on MyCareersFuture.sg just for show.

They post the job opening on the website after already having a foreign worker in mind and do not review the applicants who have applied for the job through the website.

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There are also instances where companies have posted discriminatory job advertisements on the website.

Since July 2018, job positions that have salaries over $15,000 are exempted from the FCF job advertising requirement.

But that’s going to be changed soon.

Starting 1 May 2020, all job positions with salaries up to $20,000 will have to adhere to the FCF job advertising requirement.

According to Mrs Teo, positions with salaries higher than $20,000 will remain exempted because they are deemed to be more market-sensitive.

Stricter Framework Sees More Firms Getting Penalised

Mrs Teo revealed that as of January this year, there will be stricter punishments for firms that discriminate by age, gender, nationality or mental health conditions.

Any companies found flouting the rules will be barred from hiring new foreign workers or renewing existing ones for one to two years.

So far, 23 companies have already been caught.

A ‘Painful’ Punishment

She said, “We will also hold culpable key decision-makers responsible, whether it is the CEO, Chief HR Officer, or line managers. We are prepared to name them publicly, and revoke their work passes if they are foreigners.”

While there are some people who may think that the punishments are “still not enough”, she commented that a two-year debarment is “actually quite painful”.

She added, “Most of the work passes will expire during this period, but none can be renewed. Neither can the employer hire new foreign workers. In other words, these employers would need to hire more locals if they want to continue their operations in Singapore.”

She ended off her speech by emphasising the fact that MOM will not hesitate to prosecute employers and key personnel who falsely declare that they have made fair consideration.

So what should you do if you find out that you’ve been a victim of discrimination?

Report To MOM

Before you do anything, you have to first be sure that the employer was not fair in their hiring process, and you need to have a reason to justify this.

If you have just gotten rejected by a company, you may choose to contact them to find out why you were not hired.

There could be other legitimate reasons as to why they picked someone else over you.

According to the MOM website, it could be “the person’s qualifications, experience, interpersonal skills, and other job-related qualities”.

The most important thing is that the “hiring process is fair and that applicants are considered fairly based on merit”.

Now, after you’ve read all that, think about whether the company has truly been unfair in their hiring process.

If you still remain adamant that they have been unfair, you can report them to the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) here.