PART 3 | Fixation of salary period |
20.—(1) An employer may fix periods (called for the purpose of this Act salary periods) in respect of which salary earned is payable.| (2) A salary period must not exceed one month. |
| (3) In the absence of a salary period so fixed, the salary period is deemed to be one month. |
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| Computation of salary for incomplete month’s work |
20A.—(1) If a monthly-rated employee has not completed a whole month of service because —| (a) | he or she commenced employment after the first day of the month; | | (b) | his or her employment was terminated before the end of the month; | | (c) | he or she took leave of absence without pay for one or more days of the month; or | | (d) | he or she took leave of absence to perform his or her national service under the Enlistment Act 1970, |
| the salary due to him or her for that month is to be calculated in accordance with the following formula: |
| Monthly gross rate of pay |
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Number of days the employee
actually worked in that month. |
| Number of days on which the
employee is required to work
in that month |
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| (2) In calculating the number of days actually worked by an employee in a month under subsection (1), any day on which an employee is required to work for 5 hours or less under his or her contract of service is regarded as half a day. |
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21.—(1) Salary earned by an employee under a contract of service, other than additional payments for overtime work, must be paid before the expiry of the 7th day after the last day of the salary period in respect of which the salary is payable.| (2) Additional payments for overtime work must be paid not later than 14 days after the last day of the salary period during which the overtime work was performed. |
| (3) The total salary due to an employee on completion of his or her contract of service must be paid to him or her on completion of the contract. |
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| 22. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary and any sum due to an employee who has been dismissed must be paid on the day of dismissal or, if this is not possible, within 3 days thereafter, not being a rest day or public holiday or other holiday. [32/2008] |
| Payment on termination by employee |
23.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to an employee who terminates his or her contract of service with his or her employer under section 11, or after giving due notice to the employer as required under section 10, must be paid to the employee on the day on which the contract of service is terminated.| (2) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to an employee who terminates his or her contract of service without giving prior notice to his or her employer as required under section 10, or, if notice has already been given under that section, but the employee terminates his or her contract of service without waiting for the expiry of the notice, must be paid to the employee before the expiry of the 7th day after the day on which the employee terminates his or her contract of service. |
| (3) The employer may, subject to any order made by a court or the Commissioner to the contrary, deduct from the salary due to the employee such sum as the employee is liable to pay in lieu of prior notice under section 11(1). |
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| 24.—(1) Despite sections 22 and 23, no payment of salary or any other sum due to an employee on termination of service is to be made to the employee by the employer without the permission of the Comptroller of Income Tax under section 68(7) of the Income Tax Act 1947. [32/2008] | (2) The employer must immediately give notice of the termination of service to the Comptroller of Income Tax and the payment of the salary or other sum due to the employee must not be delayed more than 30 days after the notice has been given to and received by the Comptroller of Income Tax. [32/2008] |
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| Payment to be made during working hours |
25.—(1) Payment of salary must be made on a working day and during working hours at the place of work or at any other place agreed to between the employer and the employee.| (2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the salary is paid into an account with a bank in Singapore, being an account in the name of the employee or an account in the name of the employee jointly with one or more other persons. |
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| No unauthorised deductions to be made |
26. No deduction is to be made by an employer from the salary of an employee, unless the deduction is authorised by or under any provision of this Act or is required to be made —| (a) | by order of a court or other authority competent to make such order; | | (b) | pursuant to a declaration made by the Comptroller of Income Tax under section 57 of the Income Tax Act 1947, the Comptroller of Property Tax under section 38 of the Property Tax Act 1960 or the Comptroller of Goods and Services Tax under section 79 of the Goods and Services Tax Act 1993 that the employer is an agent for recovery of income tax, property tax or goods and services tax (as the case may be) payable by the employee; or | | (c) | pursuant to a direction given by the Comptroller of Income Tax under section 91 of the Income Tax Act 1947. [26/2013] |
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27.—(1) The following deductions may be made from the salary of an employee:| (a) | deductions for absence from work; | | (b) | deductions for damage to or loss of goods expressly entrusted to an employee for custody or for loss of money for which an employee is required to account, where the damage or loss is directly attributable to the employee’s neglect or default; | | (c) | [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018] | | (d) | deductions made with the employee’s written consent for house accommodation supplied by the employer; | | (e) | deductions made with the employee’s written consent for such amenities and services supplied by the employer as the Commissioner may authorise; | | (f) | any deduction for the recovery of any advance, loan or unearned employment benefit, or for the adjustment of any overpayment of salary; | | (g) | [Deleted by Act 26 of 2013] | | (h) | deductions of contributions payable by an employer on behalf of an employee under and in accordance with the provisions of the Central Provident Fund Act 1953; | | (i) | any deduction (other than a deduction mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (h), (j) and (k)) made with the employee’s written consent; | | (j) | deductions made with the employee’s written consent and paid by the employer to any cooperative society registered under any written law for the time being in force in respect of subscriptions, entrance fees, instalments of loans, interest and other dues payable by the employee to such society; | | (k) | any other prescribed deductions. [26/2013; 55/2018] |
| (1A) An employee’s written consent for any deduction mentioned in subsection (1)(d), (e), (i) or (j) may be withdrawn by the employee giving written notice of the withdrawal to the employer at any time before the deduction is made. [55/2018] |
| (1B) An employee cannot be penalised for withdrawing a written consent for any deduction mentioned in subsection (1)(d), (e), (i) or (j). [55/2018] |
| (2) In subsection (1)(e), “services” does not include the supply of tools and raw materials required for the purposes of employment. |
(3) In subsection (1)(f), “employment benefit” —| (a) | means any benefit that an employee derives from being employed, other than salary; and | | (b) | includes (but is not limited to) benefits such as the following:| (i) | any annual leave in excess of the annual leave to which the employee is entitled under section 88A; | | (ii) | any flexible employment benefit (such as an allowance that can be utilised, at the employee’s discretion, for any of certain purposes specified in the employee’s contract of service). [55/2018] |
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28.—(1) Deductions may be made under section 27(1)(a) only on account of the absence of an employee from the place where, by the terms of his or her employment, he or she is required to work, the absence being for the whole or any part of the period during which he or she is so required to work.| (2) The amount of any deduction referred to in subsection (1) must not bear a larger proportion to the salary payable at the gross rate of pay to the employee in respect of the salary period for which the deduction is made than the proportion the period for which the employee was absent bears to the total period within such salary period during which the employee was required to work by the terms of his or her employment; and in the case of a monthly‑rated employee the amount of deduction in respect of any one day is the gross rate of pay for one day’s work. |
| (3) If any employee absents himself or herself from work otherwise than as provided by this Act or by his or her contract of service, the employer may, subject to any order which may be made by a court or by the Commissioner on complaint of either party, deduct from any salary due to the employee the cost of food supplied to him or her during his or her absence. |
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| Deductions for damages or loss |
| 29.—(1) A deduction under section 27(1)(b) must not exceed the amount of the damages or loss caused to the employer by the neglect or default of the employee and, except with the Commissioner’s permission, must not in any case exceed one‑quarter (or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of one month’s wages and must not be made until the employee has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the deduction. [26/2013] | (2) All such deductions and all realisations thereof must be recorded in a register to be kept by the employer in such form as may be prescribed. |
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| Deductions for accommodation, amenity and service |
30.—(1) [Deleted by Act 55 of 2018]| (2) Any deduction under section 27(1)(d) or (e) must not exceed an amount equivalent to the value of the house accommodation, amenity or service supplied, and the total amount of all deductions under section 27(1)(d) and (e) made from an employee’s salary by his or her employer in any one salary period must not in any case exceed one‑quarter (or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of the salary payable to the employee in respect of that period. [26/2013] |
| (3) In the case of a deduction under section 27(1)(e), the deduction is subject to such conditions as the Commissioner may impose. [26/2013] |
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| Recovery of advances and loans |
31.—(1) The recovery of an advance of money made to an employee before the commencement of a contract of service is to begin from the first payment of salary in respect of a completed salary period, but no recovery may be made of any such advance made for travelling expenses.| (2) Advances may be recovered in instalments by deductions from salary spread over not more than 12 months. |
| (3) An instalment under subsection (2) must not exceed one‑quarter (or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of the salary due for the salary period in respect of which the deduction is made. [26/2013] |
| (4) Loans may be recovered in instalments by deductions from salary. |
| (5) An instalment under subsection (4) must not exceed one‑quarter (or such other proportion prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of the salary due for the salary period in respect of which the deduction is made. [26/2013] |
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| Deductions not to exceed prescribed limit |
| 32.—(1) The total amount of all deductions made from an employee’s salary by an employer in any one salary period, other than deductions under section 27(1)(a), (f) or (j), must not exceed 50% (or such other percentage prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of the salary payable to the employee in respect of that period. [26/2013] | (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to deductions made from the last salary due to an employee on termination of his or her contract of service or on completion of his or her contract of service. |
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| Priority of salary to other debts |
33.—(1) This section applies —| (a) | to workmen who are in receipt of a salary not exceeding $4,500 a month (excluding overtime payments, bonus payments, annual wage supplements, productivity incentive payments and any allowance however described) or such other amount as the Minister may prescribe; and | | (b) | to every employee (other than a workman or a person employed in a managerial or an executive position) who receives a salary not exceeding $2,600 a month (excluding any overtime payment, bonus payment, annual wage supplement, productivity incentive payment and any allowance however described) or such other amount as the Minister may prescribe. [26/2013; 55/2018] |
| (2) When, on the application of a person holding a mortgage, charge or lien or of a person who has obtained a judgment or decree, the property of an employer is sold, or any money due to the employer is garnished, the court ordering the sale or garnishment must not distribute the proceeds of the sale or the money to the person entitled thereto unless the court has ascertained and paid the salary due to all the employees employed by that employer and to all employees engaged by a contractor or subcontractor and working for that employer. |
(3) This section applies only —| (a) | to property on which those employees were or are working; | | (b) | where the property sold was or is the produce of the work of those employees; | | (c) | where the property sold is movable property used or being used by those employees in the course of their work; or | | (d) | to money due to the employer in respect of work done by those employees. |
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| (4) The amount payable to each such employee under subsection (2) must not exceed 5 months’ salary. |
| (5) [Deleted by Act 21 of 2016] |
| (6) [Deleted by Act 21 of 2016] |
| (7) In this section, “employees” is deemed to include subcontractors for labour and “salary” is deemed to include money due to a subcontractor for labour. |
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| 34.—(1) Any employer who fails to pay salary in accordance with the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an offence. [26/2013] (2) Any employer who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1) for contravening section 21, 22 or 23 shall be liable on conviction —| (a) | to a fine of not less than $3,000 and not more than $15,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both; and | | (b) | if the employer is a repeat offender, to a fine of not less than $6,000 and not more than $30,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both. [26/2013] |
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| (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), a person is a repeat offender in relation to an offence under subsection (1) if the person who is convicted or found guilty of an offence under subsection (1) of contravening section 21, 22 or 23 (called the current offence) has been convicted or found guilty of an offence of contravening section 21, 22 or 23 on at least one other occasion (whether before, on or after 1 April 2014) before the date on which the person is convicted or found guilty of the current offence. [26/2013] |
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