Singapore’s Workplace Fairness Legislation – Key Features and Commentary

Singapore’s first set of laws on workplace discrimination will come into force in 2026/2027. Under these new laws, it will be unlawful for employers to make adverse employment decisions on the grounds of (a) age; (b) nationality; (c) sex; (d) marital status; (e) pregnancy; (f) caregiving responsibilities; (g) race; (h) religion; (i) language ability; (j) disability; and (k) mental health condition (the “Protected Characteristics”).

Employers should note these other key features of the new laws:

1. Where an employer has two or more reasons for terminating an employee’s employment and one of the reasons is linked to a Protected Characteristic, the termination will be considered unlawful. E.g. if a pregnant employee is an under-performer with tardiness issues, terminating her employment would be unlawful as long as her pregnancy formed part of the decision.
    
2. It is not considered discriminatory to prefer Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents over foreigners.
    
3. It is not considered discriminatory to prefer a person based on a Protected Characteristic if there exists a genuine business requirement; like many laws, the meaning of genuine business requirement is pegged to the question of reasonableness. The Explanatory Statement accompanying the bill for the new legislation cites the example of how the job of an audio production manager cannot reasonably be performed by a person with a hearing impairment. It seems likely that the labour regulator will take a pragmatic view on what constitutes a genuine business requirement.
    
4. Gender orientation and gender identity are expressly excluded from the definition of Protected Characteristics;
    
5. Mental health condition is considered a standalone Protected Characteristic from disability (noting that in a few other common law jurisdictions, mental illness is parked under disability);
    
6. Employers must introduce proper grievance handling processes and inform employees about the availability of these processes. “Grievance” is defined as any complaint by employees in relation to discrimination or harassment.
    
7. Employees who report workplace discrimination will be protected from retaliatory measures.
    
8. The new legislation is intended to complement (not replace) the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices introduced in 2007.
    
9. The new legislation distinguishes between “civil contravention” and “serious civil contravention”. A civil contravention attracts an administrative penalty depending on the nature and circumstances leading to the breach, and a serious civil contravention attracts an administrative penalty of up to SGD 50,000 for the first offence and up to SGD 250,000 for subsequent offences. 
    
10. Officers of the company may have personal liability for contraventions under the new laws.

A second bill will be introduced in early 2025 to enable employees to initiate claims against their employers for discriminatory employment action. It is expected that this second bill will give employees the right to file a claim in the Employment Claims Tribunal, as well as the right to take private actions against their employers, for discriminatory employment actions. We will share more in subsequent updates. 

This article is produced by our Singapore office, Bird & Bird ATMD LLP. It does not constitute as legal advice and is intended to provide general information only. Information in this article is accurate as of 21 November 2024.