Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA)

Ministry of Manpower - Corporate Communications MOM

Consultation Period: 10 May 2012 - 31 May 2012

Status: Closed

Summary

Public Consultation on Proposed Amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA)

Detailed Description

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is inviting members of the public to give feedback on proposed amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA).

Background

2.    Following the recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) in 2010, MOM has taken graduated steps to tighten foreign labour policies so as to slow down and manage the growth of the foreign workforce, enhance productivity, and ensure that Singaporeans remain at the core of our workforce.¹ On 17 Feb 2012, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced further initiatives as part of the Singapore Budget Statement, to reduce the Dependency Ratio Ceilings (DRCs) in the Manufacturing and Services sectors, as well as the S Pass sub-DRC in all sectors.

3.    While the majority of employers are responsible, there are those who circumvent the work pass framework and hire foreign manpower that they should not be entitled to. With the tightening of foreign labour policies, errant employers may be tempted to circumvent the work pass framework. This erodes employment opportunities for Singaporeans and gives such businesses an unfair advantage over other law-abiding competitors. Further, syndicates also profit from illegally importing and supplying foreign workers. MOM has been encountering increasingly complex cases, as syndicates devise new modus operandi to counter prevailing enforcement approaches.

Proposed Amendments to EFMA

4.    MOM proposes to amend the EFMA to strengthen our enforcement capabilities, tighten the integrity of the work pass framework and ensure the effectiveness of our foreign labour policies:

a. First, MOM proposes to establish an administrative financial penalty regime, to complement criminal prosecution. We propose to expand the powers of the Controller of Work Passes, to enable the Controller to impose administrative financial penalties to disgorge any monetary profits employers may have gained from circumventing the work pass framework.² 

b. Second, to increase deterrence, MOM proposes to create new EFMA contraventions to address circumvention of key levers of the work pass framework and increase penalties to ensure that they are commensurate with the potential profits from the contraventions. 

c. Third, to facilitate enforcement of complex syndicate operations, we propose to expand our investigatory powers and include presumption clauses for certain offences.

Period of Consultation

5.    MOM invites members of public to give us your feedback on these proposed changes. This consultation exercise will last for 3 weeks, from 10 May 2012 to 31 May 2012. Comments must be received by the Ministry by this deadline to be in time for incorporation into the revised legislation.

Feedback Format and Channels

6.    You are invited to give your feedback on the proposed changes using the feedback template attached below. We seek your full support to ensure that the consultation exercise is productive and focused, and we would like to request that respondents follow these guidelines: 

a. Identify yourself and the organisation you represent (if any), as that would assist in our understanding of the  impact of the proposed changes to different stakeholder groups; 

b. Make your comments clear and concise; 

c. Focus your comments on how the provisions and features can be improved or be made clearer; and 

d. As far as possible, explain your points with illustrations and examples.

7.    Your feedback is important to us. We strongly encourage you to submit your feedback through this email address: mom_consultations@mom.gov.sg [Subject Header: Public Consultation on EFMA Changes] as it will enable you to submit your feedback quickly.

8.    Alternatively, you can also send your comments through the following channels: 

• Fax to 6534 0559; or 

• Post to: 

Ministry of Manpower, Singapore 
18 Havelock Road 
Singapore 059764 
Workplace Policy and Strategy Division

Summary of responses

9.    We regret that we will not be able to separately address or acknowledge every single comment we receive. However, we will consolidate and publish a summary of the key comments received, together with our responses, on the REACH website following the close of the consultation exercise. The summary will maintain confidentiality of the feedback received and we will not disclose the identity of person(s) providing the feedback.

Documents to download

10.    For your convenience, the relevant documents relating to this public consultation exercise can be downloaded below.

¹ These steps include raising foreign worker levies for Work Permit and S pass workers, tightening levy tiers, imposing stricter criteria for higher educational qualifications and increasing the qualifying salaries for S Pass and Employment Pass workers.
² Other local government agencies that have administrative financial penalty regimes in place are the Competition Commission of Singapore to deter agreements and mergers that substantially reduce competition, the Monetary Authority of Singapore to deter failure to maintain minimum liquid assets and cash balances, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore to deter breaches of license conditions, etc.

REACH Consultation Main Memo [PDF, 69 KB]

EFMA Public Consultation Appendices [PDF, 94 KB]

Feedback Template for EFMA Public Consultation doc, 32 KB]