Unpaid for months. Now what?

When salary disputes and other workplace issues hit a dead end, TADM's trained mediators help workers and employers talk it out and find a solution

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The claimant was distraught as she had not been paid by her employer in five months.

At her wits’ end as the family’s sole breadwinner, Wendy (not her real name) contacted the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM). Assigned to the case was mediator Sandy Goh.

“I could tell that she was going through a very challenging period as her family was struggling with daily expenses. I really felt for her,” she says.

As much as Ms Goh empathised with Wendy, the 57-year-old understood there are always two sides to every story.

Having worked in human resources for two decades before joining TADM in 2020, she knows staying neutral is important when helping both sides work through a dispute.

So when she contacted Wendy's former employer to get the fuller picture, she was careful not to put him on the defensive.

“We told him, ‘We heard from your former employee, but we also want to hear your version of the story.’

“As TADM officers, we make it clear that we're not judging,” she says.