Need advice, employer not paying salary for months

[supaman]

I'm working in the IT industry and am the only Singaporean in my company. My bosses and colleagues are all foreigners and they hired me coz they needed someone who can speak mandarin and make the company less foreign-looking.

I have not been paid a salary since Jan this year and I just found out that my CPF also has not been creditted since Dec last year. I am in the process of applying for a BTO with my fiancee and I just got my third HLE appeal rejected as my CPF contribution is not regular and I am unable to produce payslips. HDB told me that they might have to cancel my application if I can not give them an answer soon. I will have to see my MP to write letter again.

The owner of my company although is a Singapore PR but he does not live in SG and only comes back a couple times each year to keep his PR status valid.

I called MOM yesterday to ask them for assistance but they told me that since I am a PMET and earning more than S$2500 I am not covered under their jurisdiction and I have to engage a lawyer myself to file a complaint in court to get back my salary. So I asked them what does MOM actually do and they said they help foreign workers with the work permits and low wage workers get remediation.

So I spoke to CPF board and they told me that they will send a letter to my employer to ask if I am still employed by the company. They seem very unbothered and did not offer any other channels to help me. They suggested that I see a lawyer to get advice.

I'm perplexed. I called a govt ministry and a stat board and they both are unwilling to help a pure Singaporean whereas they extend assistance for foreigners to reclaim their wages.

Does it mean that taxpayer money is used to fund organizations to provide assistance to foreigners and Singaporeans have to fend for themselves?

Anyone have any ideas on what to do next?

1. Send emails to request for your salary, print out everything and keep it yourself.

2. Backup your work logs or emails. You need proof to substantiate your claim that you were employed. Gather all the contracts, print if you need to as it's really important.

3. If they don't reply your email regarding salary, send them a stern warning that you will be requesting for legal help. Again print out everything. The reason is because there is a chance they may reduce compensation to you by rebuting that you are not giving enough warnings, so make sure you do.

4. Seek legal. Don't care about the cost. (it won't be paid by you anyway) Most importantly you must have all the documents needed to claim.

5. Chances are they will start paying you once they see the lawyer letter. Better to settle outside court than within.

Not that ministries don't help you but there's a proper channel. This is not the time for you to criticise government. You earn a good salary and you can hire a lawyer yourself (and the cost will be beared by your company since they are at fault grounds)

You may wish to seek legal help now. Consultation don't cost much and they will give you much better advise than forumers here.

Good luck.

i suppose your company also dun support ICT/NS/IPPT/RT too??

Am I correct???

Please update us on your proceedings if possible. I am somewhat in the same situation and am also not covered under the Employment Act. MOM unfortunately, is really useless in this aspect and I've been told that I have to pursue my own legal recourse.

Which company is this? At least we can avoid working for it.

Originally Posted by supaman

I called a govt ministry and a stat board and they both are unwilling to help a pure Singaporean whereas they extend assistance for foreigners to reclaim their wages.

Does it mean that taxpayer money is used to fund organizations to provide assistance to foreigners and Singaporeans have to fend for themselves?

Please do not make statements this dramatic. MOM and CPF board have their rules. MOM will not help any PMET case - citizen or not. CPF works slow, sure, and efficiently. If your employer is found to be at fault - citizen or not - he will be penalized. Trust the government of Singapore. Law is supreme.

they gg liao la. They can dun pay your salary, but if they dun pay the "government", i mean cpf. is a stupid thing to do

Originally Posted by supaman

I'm perplexed. I called a govt ministry and a stat board and they both are unwilling to help a pure Singaporean whereas they extend assistance for foreigners to reclaim their wages.

Does it mean that taxpayer money is used to fund organizations to provide assistance to foreigners and Singaporeans have to fend for themselves?

Dude, I'm disgusted by this statement of yours.

How does your employer not paying you anything become a political issue? Stop politicising every single stuff. It's getting annoying.

And you are a PMET! You can afford legal service. Why must they fight for your case with their own money?

Even if you are a foreigner PMET, they won't fight your case either! Where do you get your second statement from? Yes they fight for construction worker against mean contractors, but are you a construction worker earning $25 a day?

They have protocol to follow. You can't be finding a barber for a hamburger takeaway. You can't be finding a banker and ask him for a happy meal. You have to find the right channel and yes, MOM is not the right channel.

Originally Posted by supaman

I'm working in the IT industry and am the only Singaporean in my company. My bosses and colleagues are all foreigners and they hired me coz they needed someone who can speak mandarin and make the company less foreign-looking.

I have not been paid a salary since Jan this year and I just found out that my CPF also has not been creditted since Dec last year. I am in the process of applying for a BTO with my fiancee and I just got my third HLE appeal rejected as my CPF contribution is not regular and I am unable to produce payslips. HDB told me that they might have to cancel my application if I can not give them an answer soon. I will have to see my MP to write letter again.

The owner of my company although is a Singapore PR but he does not live in SG and only comes back a couple times each year to keep his PR status valid.

I called MOM yesterday to ask them for assistance but they told me that since I am a PMET and earning more than S$2500 I am not covered under their jurisdiction and I have to engage a lawyer myself to file a complaint in court to get back my salary. So I asked them what does MOM actually do and they said they help foreign workers with the work permits and low wage workers get remediation.

So I spoke to CPF board and they told me that they will send a letter to my employer to ask if I am still employed by the company. They seem very unbothered and did not offer any other channels to help me. They suggested that I see a lawyer to get advice.

I'm perplexed. I called a govt ministry and a stat board and they both are unwilling to help a pure Singaporean whereas they extend assistance for foreigners to reclaim their wages.

Does it mean that taxpayer money is used to fund organizations to provide assistance to foreigners and Singaporeans have to fend for themselves?

Anyone have any ideas on what to do next?

Welcome to Singapore 2013. Incompetent ministries and statboards that have lost sight of their purpose. Anyway I find it very strange why you would continue to work without pay. If I were you, I would have already raised the issue to HR a week after I did not receive pay. Call HR, ask to speak to the head. Tell them that they are already overdue and you would take no pay leave starting from now until you are paid and you have already spoken to MOM and CPF. Give them a dateline by which you will engage a lawyer.

Dun let them drag and string you along. I still dunno why u still so stupid go to work.

I suspect TS leaving out key information and not telling the whole truth.

Nobody can be that stupid to work for 3+ months without pay and still continue turn up for work and tcss with MOM. We are talking about a IT professional here, not some bangala from a remote village who owe money to agents to come here as construction worker.

There must be some hanky panky going on that is not so simple.