Singapore’s Employment Act serves as a basic protection for most employees working under a contract of service in Singapore, including full-time, part-time, temporary and contract employees.
While this provides employee protection, Part IV of the employment Act – which covers overtime, rest days and hours of work – only applies to two groups of employees:
1) A workman (doing manual labour) and earning a monthly basic salary of $4,500 or less.
2) An employee covered under the Employment Act, but is not a workman, and is earning a monthly basic salary of $2,600 or less.
Certain Employees Not Covered By Employment Act In The First Place
In Singapore, foreign employees, who hold a work pass, are covered under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act – and not the Employment Act. Other types of employees, such as Seafarers, Domestic Workers and Statutory board employees or civil servants, are also not covered under Singapore’s Employment Act.
Many White-Collar Workers May Not Be Covered Under Part IV Of The Employment Act
As mentioned, most other employees who are not workmen (e.g. white-collar workers) will only be covered under Part IV of the Employment Act is they earn a monthly basic salary of $2,600 or less.
The calculation of the monthly basic salary does not include payments for overtime, bonus, annual wage supplement (AWS), productivity incentives, reimbursement for special expenses and all allowances.
When looking at salaries in Singapore, we can see that more than 80% of white-collared will not be covered by Part IV of the Employment Act. This is because the 20% percentile of income earners already get paid $2,826 as of 2023 – above the $2,600 threshold to be covered under Part IV of the Employment Act.
This statistic also includes workmen, and so, the reality is that the percentage of white-collared workers may form a smaller percentage.
For those not covered under Part IV of the Employment Act, the terms and conditions of employment will be according to the employment contract. Even then, employers have to comply with the minimum requirements for Key Employment Terms (KETs) in Singapore.
Read Also: Minimum Requirements For Key Employment Terms (KETs) On Employees Contracts
Who Is Considered A “White-Collar” Worker?
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) defines managers and executives as employees with management and supervisory functions. In this article, when we discuss white-collar workers, it is referring to such employees.
Some of their functions may include:
– Making decisions on issues such as recruitment, discipline, termination of employment, performance assessment and reward.
– Formulating strategies and policies of the enterprise.
– Managing and running the business.
They also include professionals with tertiary education and specialised knowledge or skills whose employment terms are like those of managers or executives. For example:
– Advocates and solicitors
– Chartered Accountants
– Practising doctors and dentists
What Does Part IV Of The Employment Act Cover?
For employees covered under the Employment Act in the first place, Part IV of the Employment Act regulates your hours of work, and your entitlements to breaks, overtime pay and rest days.
Break Times
Those covered under Part IV of the Employment Act are generally not required to work more than 6 consecutive hours without a break. If the nature of work requires continuous work for up to 8 hours, breaks must be provided for meal, and be at least 45 minutes long.
Normal Hours Of Work
While employees may have contractual working hours are based on their employment contract, common work arrangements are:
| If Your Work | Your Contractual Hours Are |
| 5 days or less a week | Up to 9 hours per day or 44 hours a week |
| More than 5 days a week | Up to 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week |
Other work arrangements may follow the following arrangement:
| If You Work | Your Contractual Hours Are |
| Less than 44 hours every alternate week | Up to 48 hours a week but capped at 88 hours in any continuous 2-week period. For example, week 1 = 40 hours; week 2 = 48 hours; week 3 = 40 hours: – Average for weeks 1 and 2 = 44 hours- Average for weeks 2 and 3 = 44 hours |
| Shifts of up to 12 hours a day | Up to an average of 44 hours over a continuous 3-week period For example, week 1 = 40 hours; week 2 = 44 hours; week 3 = 48 hours; week 4 = 40 hours: – Average for weeks 1, 2 and 3 = 44 hours – Average for weeks 2, 3 and 4 = 44 hours Those who are not shift workers, but agree to this arrangement, must give written consent, be informed of daily working hours, number of working days in each week and weekly rest day; and have provisions of Sections 38 and 40 of the Employment Act explained to you. This provision is for “Hours of work” and “Shift workers” |
Maximum Hours Of Work
Employers covered under Part IV of the Employment Act are not allowed to work more than 12 hours a day. However, there may be special instances when this can happen, including:
– an accident or threat of an accident
– work that is essential to the life of the community, national defence or security
– Urgent work to be done to machinery or plant
– an interruption of work that was impossible to foresee
Even in such instances, employees can only up to a maximum of 14 hours. Employers must also apply for an overtime exemption from MOM.
When it comes to overtime, employees can only work up to 72 overtime hours in a month. Employers can similarly apply for an exemption if they require employees to work more than the 72 hours of overtime cap in a month.
Nevertheless, certain work activities will not be granted this exemption – especially as most have elevated levels of stress.
Moreover, working on a rest day or public holiday is not counted in the 72-hour overtime limit, except for work done beyond the usually daily working hours on those days. Only the extra working hours will count towards the 72-hour limit.
Overtime on a rest day is also calculated as follow:
(Hourly basic rate of pay x 1.5 x number of hours worked overtime) + (Rest day or public holiday pay)
Read Also: What Is The Average Working Hours In Singapore For Full-Time And Part-Time Employees
Overtime Pay
Employees who are covered under Part IV of the Employment Act must be paid an overtime pay if they work beyond 44 hours a week – regardless of what their employment contract may say.
The overtime rate of pay for non-workmen is capped at a salary level of $2,600, or an hourly rate of $13.60. Employers can use MOM’s calculator for overtime pay to verify if the right amount is paid.
For overtime work, employers must pay their employees at least 1.5x the hourly basic rate of pay. This payment must be made within 14 days after the last day of the salary period.
Here’s how the hourly basic rate of pay is calculated:
| Employee Category | Hourly Basic Rate Of Pay |
| Monthly-rated employee | (12 x Monthly basic rate of pay) / (52 x 44) |
| Daily-rated employee | (Daily pay at the basic rate) / (Working hours per day) |
| Piece-rated employee | (Total weekly pay at the basic rate of pay) / (Total number of hours worked in the week) |
Read Also: How To Calculate Overtime Pay For Your Employees During The Month
Rest Day
Employers must provide their employees 1 rest day per week. Rest days are not paid, and comprises 1 whole day (i.e. midnight to midnight). Typically, employers cannot compel their employees to work on rest day unless under exceptional circumstances.
Employers determine when their employees rest day will fall. This can be a Sunday – as is what most employees are used to – or any other day of the week. Besides this rest day, other days of the week are not considered rest days.
For employees who do not get Sunday as their rest days, employers have to provide a roster that informs employees of their rest days before the start of each month. The maximum number of interval days allowed between 2 rest days are 12 days.
Shift workers can count a rest day as a continuous period of 30 hours of rest. In such cases, the 30-hour period can start at 6 pm on a Sunday and still be considered as within the week even though it extends into Monday the following week.
Pay for working on a rest day can be calculated as follows:
| If work is one | For up to half the normal daily workings hours | For more than half the normal daily working hours | Beyond normal daily working hours |
| At the employer’s request | 1 day’s salary | 2 day’s salary | 2 day’s salary + overtime pay |
| At the employee’s request | Half day’s salary | 1 day’s salary | 1 day’s salary + overtime pay |
Read Also: Understanding The Differences Between A Rest Day & A Non-Working Day
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