The Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) welcomes the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) announcement on the Integrated Process for Work Permit Applications.
MWC has strongly advocated over the last year for the electronic payment of Work Permit (WP) holders’ salaries to be mandated. Some of the key obstacles to the implementation of such an arrangement were that bank account opening was not common amongst newly arriving migrant workers and because the issuance processes of work passes and bank accounts were separate from each other. This meant that the decision to open a local salary bank account was largely left to the workers or their employers.
We have argued for the imposition of electronic salary payment such as through Interbank GIRO as we strongly believe that it would relieve WP holders of the burden of trying to obtain as well as safe-keep their own salary records. Having their records for reference would help evidence their claims for arrears in the unfortunate event that there is dispute over whether payment is made. Our view is that while pay-slips can help shed light on the computation of salary, they are inadequate on their own to provide conclusive proof that actual payment is made. In this respect, MWC has seen a number of cases where workers allege that they have not received any salary at all. For these unfortunate instances, had salary been paid electronically, the simple procurement of bank statements or impartial and trusted third party records would certainly have demonstrated conclusively if there was actual transfer of payment.
In line with our own stand, the announcement is an encouraging development and represents a move towards electronic salary payment for all WP holders. An integrated one-stop process for both the issuance of the work pass and the bank account would make it much more convenient for employers and workers. We are hopeful that with the newly added convenience and streamlining, the practice of opening of salary bank accounts for newly arrived WP holders will now become much more pervasive, and once prevalent, will entail only a simple further enhancement for electronic salary payment to be mandated. We commend MOM on their effort to enhance and modernise the WP System and urge the Government to continue its momentum towards making electronic salary payment the norm for all WP employers.
At the same time, I wish to also remind all WP employers that they must pay all salaries in full no later than seven days after the salary period. Failure to do so will open them to prosecution. The MWC will not hesitate to refer all salary claims cases to MOM for investigation and enforcement.
Yeo Guat Kwang
Chairman
Migrant Workers’ Centre
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