Dispute management office recovers $15m in owed pay
89% of employees who lodged claims with Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management fully recovered salaries
For months, he and his fellow co-workers worked without pay after the global market research firm they were working for was acquired by another company.
Mr Christophe Leyoanc, an account director in market research, told The New Paper his employer promised they would be paid, but it did not happen.
After a couple of months, Mr Leyoanc, a permanent resident, and eight of his colleagues lodged separate reports with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM).
TADM, which was set up in 2017, offers mediation and advisory services for employment and payment-related disputes.
The company's director, who was based overseas, was told by TADM to attend a mediation session in Singapore.
During the mediation, the director revealed that the firm lacked funds and admitted salaries were not paid for three months.
The TADM has helped individuals like Mr Leyoanc recover owed salaries through mediation and advisory services.
According to figures released yesterday by the Tripartite Alliance Limited (TAL) in its inaugural annual report for the fiscal year that ended March 31, about $15 million in salaries owed to employees in Singapore was recovered between April last year and March this year.
The release said of the 5,773 employees who lodged claims with TADM over the period, 89 per cent of them fully recovered their salaries.
TAL was set up by the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation in 2016, and comprises the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep), TADM, and the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council.
With effect from April this year, TADM expanded the coverage of its mediation services to include wrongful dismissal claims and made this service available to professional, managers and executives earning more than $4,500.
As of March 5 last year, self-employed people have also been able to tap on voluntary mediation services at TADM.
Along with salary issues, TAL also helped employees who felt harassed or discriminated by employers seek recourse.
Last year, several new tripartite standards, including those on age-friendly workplace practices, were introduced by Tafep.
As of March this year, 2,327 companies with 627,000 employees have adopted the tripartite standards administered by Tafep.
More was also done to improve workplace health and safety, with 33,914 companies having joined WSH Council's bizSAFE programme and several workplace health and safety campaigns rolled out.
TAL chairman Stephen Lee said: "TAL exemplifies the tripartite partners' commitment to work together to resolve common challenges.
"I am confident that TAL will continue to be the driving force to help employers grow their businesses and employees grow their careers."
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