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Oral Answer by Ms Low Yen Ling Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower to Parliamentary Question on watchlist for non-nationality discriminatory practices

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1330 OF 2018 FOR THE SITTING ON 2 OCT 2018

QUESTION NO. 2244 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap

To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry maintains or plans to set up a watchlist for companies that engage in discriminatory employment practices not related to nationality but to other attributes such as gender and ethnicity.

Answer

  1. MOM takes a serious view of all forms of workplace discrimination. Some forms of discrimination, including those related to gender and ethnicity, are more readily substantiated by specific actions, such as verbal utterances, or written job advertisements. In cases involving such discrimination and substantiated through investigations, MOM can and has debarred the errant employers from making work pass applications, without first putting them on a watchlist. For cases where discrimination involves nationality bias, which is less readily apparent, MOM puts the employers on a watchlist and scrutinises their work pass applications for irregularities. We may subsequently debar them if they fail to cooperate to improve their human resource practices.
  2. We expect all employers to abide by the principles of fair and merit-based employment practices outlined in the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) will engage companies on whom we have received complaints or feedback and guide them to improve their employment practices.