Three Workers Jailed for Work Injury Compensation Act Violations

1. Three workers have each been sentenced to between four and six weeks of imprisonment in July and August 2014 for knowingly making fraudulent claims under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) and/or for furnishing false information to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) investigation officers.
2. Between April 2013 and July 2013, Khan Momen, Govindan Raja and Billal Hossain Kader Molla, claimed that they had been injured in work-related accidents, and sought compensation from their employers under WICA. To assess the eligibility of each claim, MOM officers conducted investigations which eventually established that the three workers had lied about the accidents. MOM thus proceeded to charge them for offences under the WICA. (Please refer to the Annex for details about the three cases).
   
   Upholding the integrity of WICA
3. The WICA is a no-fault system that provides workers who are injured in work-related accident with a low-cost and expeditious alternative to common law to settle compensation claims. Making a fraudulent work injury compensation claim is a serious act of deceit.
4. Mr Woon Cheng Peng, Deputy Director of MOM’s Work Injury Compensation Department, said, "When the veracity of WICA claims are in doubt, MOM conducts extensive investigations into the claims. Such investigations and subsequent prosecution of fraudulent cases take up considerable time and resources, which could have been better spent on ensuring that genuine claimants have their claims settled fairly and expeditiously. MOM will not hesitate to take tough action against fraudulent claimants who abuse the system for their own gains. Similarly, MOM will also take firm action against errant employers who failed to fulfil their WICA obligations”.
5. Since January 2014, four workers were convicted in court for making fraudulent WICA claims and/or furnishing false information. Under the WICA, those convicted of making fraudulent claims may be fined up to $15,000 and/or jailed up to 12 months, while those convicted of furnishing false information may be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed up to six months.