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View All NewsSingapore – Employers fined in foreign worker housing scheme
Employers in Singapore have been fined by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) for providing false information about the accommodation they provide for overseas foreign workers, reports The Strait Times.
Over the past two years, an estimated 2,100 employers have been issued a warning or fined by the MoM for offences relating to the online system to register foreign worker addresses. Twelve employers were charged in court and fined a total of SGD 119,000 (USD 95,767).
However, according to a separate article in The Sunday Times, the employers were fined for not updating their records, not for providing false declarations to the government.
Debbie Fordyce, a volunteer at welfare group Transient Workers Count Too, said: “They declare that the men are living in approved housing, such as purpose-built dormitories, while actually putting them up in cheaper places; such as shophouses, factory-converted dorms, or construction site quarters. It comes down to money.”
Providing accommodation in an approved dormitory can cost employers SGD 300 (USD 241) per month per worker. However, housing workers in a shophouse, a narrow, small terraced house, costs SGD 200 (USD 161) per month, while housing them on construction sites is free.
Industry insiders advised that employers are willing to skirt the policy because they know that it is difficult for the MoM to carry out checks.
According to MoM policy, employers who intentionally provide false information about where their workers live can be fined up to SGD 20,000 (USD 16,095) and/or jailed for two years.