Entitled to Overtime Pay for Working Overtime
- Lianhe Zaobao (13 March 2008) : Entitled to Overtime Pay for Working Overtime
- Lianhe Zaobao (27 February 2008) : Older Workers Being Discriminated Against
Entitled to Overtime Pay for Working Overtime
- Lianhe Zaobao, 13 March 2008
Please refer to the letter by Mdm Chen Baoyi “Older workers being discriminated against” (ZB, 27 February 2008). Our existing labour laws protect workers like Mdm Chen.
2. Under the Employment Act, which covers all manual workers and employees who earn a basic monthly salary of $1,600 or less, workers may work for up to 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week.
3. If you are requested by your employer to work beyond these hours, you must be paid for the extra work at a rate not less than 1.5 times your hourly basic pay. The total working hours, including overtime work, is limited to 12 hours a day. Employers who do not comply with the law can be prosecuted and fined up to $1,000 or imprisoned up to 6 months for breach of the Act.
4. Under the Workmen's Compensation Act, work-related injuries can be reported to MOM, and compensation will be assessed.
5. We have contacted Mdm Chen and are investigating her case.
Older Workers Being Discriminated Against
- Lianhe Zaobao, 27 February 2008
The letter writer (Chen Baoyi) said she had been working in a company since it started operations more than two years ago. She said some of her fellow middle-age workers were laid off, while others resigned after the company started to pick on them for being slow.
After working in the company for some time, she found that she was unable to extend her fingers freely. She bore with the condition for 2 years but the doctor recently advised her to undergo an operation. Though she informed the company, it refused to bear the cost as it did not see this as a work-related injury. The writer had to pay for the operation from her own pocket as a result. The condition returned after she went back to work from medical leave and she had to take more medical leave. Her manager then asked her supervisor whether she could still work and if not she would be laid–off. The writer resigned soon after.
She highlighted that workers in the company worked six days a week from 7am to 3pm. They are also only given 5-20 minutes to have their meals. After deducting the approximately 2 hour meal time per week, she felt that they had worked 46 hours and asked whether this was allowed under the Employment Act. She also wondered whether the 20-minute meal time was because the company provided packed lunches for workers.