Recent changes to employment regime in Singapore
Introduction
There has been a suite of legislative changes to the Singapore employment landscape that were recently announced. These changes, together with the upcoming workplace discrimination law, mandatory flexible working arrangement guidelines and non-compete guidelines, are further evidence that Singapore is serious about improving the workplace environment and bringing its laws closer to global norms.
The recent changes can be surmised as follows: (1) a new shared parental leave scheme which allows eligible parents to enjoy an additional ten (10) weeks of paid leave when fully implemented; (2) a new SkillsFuture Jobseekers support scheme which grants eligible workers temporary financial assistance of up to S$6,000 over six (6) months; and (3) a new Platform Workers Bill was introduced in the Singapore parliament to provide enhanced rights and protections to platform workers, including representation through a union, financial protection and work safety.
(1) New shared parental leave scheme and mandatory four (4) weeks of paid paternity leave
At present, all working mothers are entitled to twelve (12) or sixteen (16) weeks of paid maternity leave, depending on several factors, including, but not limited to, whether the child is a Singaporean, and whether the mother has worked for an employer for at least three continuous months before the birth of the child, or if the mother is self-employed, whether she have been engaged for at least three continuous months and have lost income during the maternity leave period.
In his inaugural National Day Rally speech on 18 August 2024, the Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lawrence Wong announced that from 1 April 2025, eligible working fathers will be entitled to four (4) weeks of paid paternity leave which must be taken within twelve (12) months from the child’s date of birth. This is an increase from the existing two (2) weeks of mandatory paid paternity leave and two (2) weeks of discretionary paternity leave.
Significantly, Mr. Wong also announced that from 1 April 2025, eligible working parents will get an additional six (6) weeks of shared parental leave (“SPL“) which can be freely allocated between the spouses and used within twelve (12) months from the child’s date of birth. Employees are required to give a minimum of four (4) weeks’ notice to their employer before consuming any paid paternity, maternity or share parental leave. Employees are also encouraged to inform their employers as soon as possible when they are expecting a child, and mutually agree on leave plans with their employer. Details to be discussed and agreed on includes:
- the number of weeks where the SPL is to be taken;
- whether the leave taken is to be in continuous block or separate blocks; and
- the start and end dates of the leave period(s).
(2) Support scheme for Jobseekers and Retrenched Workers
Historically, there has been little to no support for unemployed workers with the exception for low-income families that may apply for short to medium term assistance from social service agencies, and the one-off Job Support Scheme to safeguard livelihoods of local workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This new support scheme for jobseekers and retrenched workers was announced at the National Day Rally and represents a paradigm shift in the Singapore Government’s approach to unemployment. This scheme is aimed at supporting lower and middle-income individuals who are involuntarily unemployed and will provide them with interim financial support of up to $6,000 over six (6) months so that they can focus on upgrading their skills for a better long-term job. Eligible participants will receive S$1,500 in the first month and subsequently tapering down. Once the applicant successfully secures a new job during the six (6) months period, they will not be eligible for the subsequent monthly payouts.
This support scheme will receive applications starting in April 2025 and it comes with a list of qualifying criteria. For starters, applicants must be a Singapore citizen and aged 21 and above at the time of application (from April 2025) or a Singapore permanent resident and aged 21 and above at the time of application (from first quarter of 2026). The applicant must have earned an average monthly income of S$5,000 or less in the last twelve (12) months, reside in a property with annual value of S$25,000 or less, and became unemployed due to involuntary reasons such as retrenchment, cessation of business, dismissal or termination due to illness, injury or accident. In addition, applicants must show that they have been actively looking for employment through job applications and/or attending career workshops or trainings and have not received a job support payout in the past three (3) years.
There will be safeguards to prevent any abuse for this scheme and more details are expected to be available closer to April 2025.
(3) Upcoming enactment of the Platform Workers Bill
There have been increasing calls to strengthen protections for workers in the gig economy, especially with the surge in platform workers since the Covid-19 pandemic. An advisory committee was convened in September 2021 to look into the issue and the Singapore government accepted all 12 recommendations from the final report of the committee. Platform workers will be treated as a separate class of workers from employees and self-employed, and will include ride-hailing drivers, food delivery workers, on-demand delivery workers or any worker that relies on digital matching platforms that provide income to the worker.
The Platform Workers Bill was read for the first time in Singapore Parliament on 6 August 2024 and it seeks to provide protections and privileges for platform workers in the following areas, (a) platform operators will be expected to make contributions to the Central Provident Fund on behalf of the platform workers, (b) platform operators will be legally obligated to purchase work injury compensation insurance for platform workers which will allow them to make claims under the relevant workplace injury legislation, and (c) platform workers will have greater representation in the form of new union-like bodies to negotiate and advocate for better working conditions.
Conclusion
With the upcoming changes, it would be incumbent on companies to prepare, review and put in place appropriate measures and processes to comply with the legislative requirements and to handle the anticipated increase in employment inquiries at the workplace.
If you are concerned about how to prepare for the upcoming changes or would simply like to have a deeper conversation about the changes, please contact our Singapore-based colleagues Tan Choon Leng, Vincent Tan and Prashaanth Rajandran, working in the offices of JurisAsia LLC with whom Gowling WLG has an exclusive association.
Author(s)
Tan Choon Leng
Choon Leng is a highly regarded Corporate M&A and Private Wealth lawyer and leads JurisAsia's Corporate Practice.
Vincent Tan
Vincent is a corporate lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions, cross border investments, and other general corporate and commercial matters.
Prashaanth Rajandran
Prashaanth is a corporate associate and his primary areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, employment and regulatory.