Twelve Cupcakes Charged With Underpaying 8 Foreign Employees for Over 2 Years


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Twelve cupcakes is a familiar brand to people in Singapore.

Image: twelvecupcakes.com

With 34 stores in Singapore, they’re practically scattered around the island.

Image: twelvecupcakes.com

On 23 Oct 2020, this beloved brand made the news again, except this time, it’s not for anything good.

Twelve Cupcakes Charged With Underpaying 8 Foreign Employees for Over 2 Years

On 1 Oct 2020, Twelve Cupcakes was charged in court for underpaying eight foreign employees for over two years.

Yes, two years.

On 22 Oct, they were back in court for a further mention.

Apparently, these employees have been shortchanged from Dec 2016 to Jan 2019.

The victims include Ma Catleene Villacorta Dela Cruz who received less than her $2,600 for 26 months and another four victims who received less than the $2,200-$2,400 salaries they were promised for 24 months.

Not many details are known about the positions they fill and how much they were shortchanged by.

In total, the bakery chain is facing 29 charges.


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And if found guilty, it could be fined $10,000 to $20,000 for each charge.

Assuming it’s $20k for each charge, that’s more than half a million Singapore dollars in fines.

Image: Giphy

Founded By S’pore Celebrities & Sold To Indian Tea Company

Twelve Cupcakes was founded by radio deejay Daniel Ong and his ex-wife Jaime Teo back in 2011.

Teo was allegedly the one to create the recipes for the cupcakes, tuned towards Asian palate when it first began.

However, when the couple divorced in late 2016, they decided to sell the business.

Twelve Cupcakes was sold to an Indian tea company, Dhunseri Group, for S$2.5 million in Jan 2017.

Not The First Time It’s Accused Of Exploitation

In 2013, Twelve Cupcakes was accused of exploiting its foreign employees by making them work longer hours with no overtime pay by the defunct The Real Singapore.

Ong dismissed the allegations, saying that it could be fake news spread by a disgruntled former employee.

Nothing came out of it as the Ministry of Manpower said they did not receive any complaints regarding Twelve Cupcakes.

Moral Of The Story

If you want something done, complain to the MOM.


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Just look at the number of employees who are doing that to their unreasonable companies now.

Don’t be like Kimberly Chia’s neighbours called out the local actress on social media for throwing trash along HDB corridor without speaking to her first.

It makes things messy and more often than not, you’ll end up looking bad.