MOM suspends work pass privileges of two employers who underpaid retail staff

Two errant employers who persistently underpaid retail employees, despite several rounds of engagement by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), will not get to apply for or renew work passes for foreign workers until they rectify the underpayments.

- Tay Hong Yi

Both employers operate retail shops and were found to have underpaid a total of 12 retail employees by about $450 a month per person since April 2023, the ministry said in a statement on June 6.

They were among 4,100 retail and food services companies the ministry inspected from April 2023 to March 2024.

The inspections were carried out after a six-month run-in period following the introduction of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM) for each sector.

Lower-wage retail employees have been covered under the PWM – a wage ladder pegged to training and productivity improvements – since September 2022; and since March 2023 for food services ones.

MOM said the six-month run-in period given to each sector or occupation the PWM was introduced to was to give employers time to adjust to the new requirements.