What does employment mean to me and my employer?
11 August 2009
Media Release
1 What are an employee’s rights and obligations under an employment contract? These necessary and yet often complex terms and conditions signed between an employer and employee are sometimes not understood fully or clearly by both parties, leading to disputes at the workplace. To help union members understand better the nature of an employment contract, specifically on restrictive covenants or covenants in restraint of trade, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and The Law Society of Singapore (Law Society) organised a seminar on “Understanding Your Employment Contract” for about 500 members today.
2 This seminar, the second in a series, is organised under the “Law Awareness & U” initiative, which was launched jointly by both partners on 24 February 2009. The initiative serves to address union members’ legal concerns by providing them with some form of guidance on how to approach some of these issues. Through free legal seminars, workshops and clinics under this initiative, both partners hope to provide accessible and useful legal information that would help union members.
3 Today’s seminar is focused specifically on restrictive covenants or non-competition clauses that more and more employers are asking their employees to sign or to accept as a part of the employment contract. The legal relationship between employers and employees is determined by the contract of employment. Often, employees sign such contracts without even properly reading the terms or understanding the implications of what they had signed and worry only when they are sued for breach of contract or run into other problems.
4 Increasingly, we see employers imposing post-termination obligations on their employees, asking them to agree not to do certain things when they leave the company, like not working for a competitor. The problem is that such clauses are no longer confined only to very senior employees in a company. Instead, almost everyone is now asked to abide by them, including those with no executive functions or who have no access to trade secrets or customer lists.
5 While such clauses are meant to protect employers’ legitimate business interests, they can also be so extensive and unreasonable as to affect a person's livelihood. Although such clauses are not enforceable if they are found to be unreasonable, they do have an intimidating impact on workers who seek only to legitimately use the skills and experience that they had gained from their previous jobs to earn a living.
6 Fearing legal action and having no legal or financial means to challenge their former employers, many simply comply with these clauses, only to their own detriment. This is truly punitive and unfair. So, the purpose of this seminar is to raise awareness among workers on their rights and obligations, particularly during such times when jobs are harder to come by. It also hopes to educate employers on the importance of adopting fair employment practices as part of their corporate social responsibility.
7 The first seminar of the “Law Awareness & U” initiative was held on 24 February 2009 with a 550-strong audience, and focused on ‘Corporate Restructuring and Employees’. The seminar touched on how workers would be affected if their companies enter into scheme of arrangement, receivership, judicial management, insolvency, retrenchment, merger and acquisition. This was particularly useful for union members who may have concerns over these issues in view of the economic downturn.
8 To give union members more access to free legal assistance, especially during this economic downturn, NTUC and Law Society have, in addition to the seminars, kicked-off a free legal clinic held monthly at the Members Services Centre, NTUC Centre. The free legal clinics are conducted through sessions of 20-minute, one-to-one consultation with a rotating panel of qualified lawyers, who are volunteers with the Law Society’s Pro Bono Services Office that provides free legal clinics and other pro bono initiatives like the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme to help the disadvantaged or needy on a regular basis.
9 The first legal clinic organised under the “Law Awareness & U” initiative was held on 31 July 2009, with 12 union members attending and benefiting from legal consultation with a qualified lawyer. The issues ranged from employment contract to matrimonial, bankruptcy, tenancy agreement and timeshare matters. Union members must pre-register with Law Society first before attending the legal clinics even though they enjoy priority registration. The upcoming legal clinics will be held on 28 August 2009 and 25 September 2009. Please see ANNEX A for more information on the free legal clinics.
Mdm Halimah Yacob
Deputy Secretary General and
Director, Legal Services Department
National Trades Union Congress
ANNEX A
Information on Free Legal Clinics
1 The NTUC and Law Society of Singapore are jointly offering pro-bono basic legal advice to NTUC members through monthly free legal clinics that include a 20-minute, one-to-one consultation with a qualified lawyer at the NTUC Centre. The first legal clinic was held on 31 July 2009 and details of the upcoming legal clinics are:
Dates: 28 August 2009 and 25 September 2009
Time: 7.00 pm – 9.30 pm
Venue: Member Services Centre, NTUC Centre, #B1-01, 1 Marina Boulevard
2 Pre-registration is required at least five working days before the legal clinics. NTUC members get priority registration – members have to identify themselves when registering for the legal clinics. Places are assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis.
3 To be eligible for the free legal clinic, a member must:
a) be a Singaporean/Permanent Resident
b) not already have a lawyer
c) seek advice for his/her own personal matter (i.e. not for a spouse or family member) and not for business / corporate or professional matters.
4 Visit www.lawsociety.org.sg/probono/community_legal_clinic for more details. For registration, please contact Mr Rufus at 6536 0650, or e-mail probonoservices@lawsoc.org.sg (Attn: Mr Rufus).
