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Oral Answer by Mr Sam Tan, Minister of State for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on unfair workplace discrimination due to pre-existing medical history

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 987 OF 2017 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER
08 JAN 2018
QUESTION NO. 1676 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Dr Tan Wu Meng

To ask the Minister for Manpower what measures are being taken to safeguard Singaporean workers from unfair discrimination arising from pre-existing medical history when (i) at the workplace or (ii) seeking confirmation of employment.

Answer

  1. The Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices state that employers should recruit and select employees on the basis of merit. They should also treat their employees fairly, with equal opportunities for training and development and remuneration based on ability, performance, contribution and experience. Pre-existing medical history should not be a factor if it does not affect the employee’s ability to perform the job. MOM will take action against employers found to have engaged in discriminatory practices.
  2. MOM and the tripartite partners have also launched the Tripartite Standard on Recruitment Practices in November last year. To date, more than 240 employers with over 245,000 employees have signed up. These employers have committed to use only relevant and objective selection criteria to short-list and select job applicants.
  3. The incidence of discrimination based on medical conditions is low. There were only three cases in the past four years, out of a total of 2,100 cases of complaints on unfair employment practices examined by MOM and TAFEP. Nevertheless, MOM and TAFEP will monitor the situation closely. We will continue to actively engage employers on how to implement fair and progressive employment practices, and treat any report of workplace discrimination seriously. We urge workers who face any form of workplace discrimination to promptly report the matter to MOM or TAFEP so that investigation and enforcement actions can be taken early on the errant employers.