WP issue with employer

[Clemzstar]

Hey guys, I have a friend who is on WP since Feb 2009, she has been working with this company since then with no problems, her terms and contracts are all agreed with the owner. But last week, the owner of the company sold it to someone else and pretty much wipe his hands off everything.

Right now with the new owner, he is setting different rules to the contract she agreed with the previous owner eg. More works hours, less days off, etc etc.
With the current situation, is she allowed to quit her job without any consequences ? She rather return back to her country then be abused by the new owner but she is unsure as to whether she needs to pay if she quits.

She was also promised a bonus for last year and until now she has not received anything. The old owner is uncontactable, the new owner refuse to acknowledge the bonus but yet still uses the bonus as a threat to her.

[sundaymorningstaple]

She should be prepared to leave the company and return home. But, before doing that, I would advise her to take her signed contract to MOM and explain it to an officer. If she doesn't have a signed contract, she should still go to MOM and explain that to them as well. I not saying anything will come of it, but if she doesn't try, she won't get anything. And no, she won't be in any trouble with MOM. Guaranteed the new employer might not like it, but tough. He should have thought about that before trying to shaft the staff.

[Clemzstar]

Thanks for the reply

As she came here and was hired by an agent between her and the company, and the contract was 2 years, she has only done a year and 3 months. Would she need to pay the company anything and if she does leave, would it leave any record on her if she wants to come back here next time.

[sundaymorningstaple]

As long as she left under the terms of her contract, there shouldn't be any problem. The problem is, most WP contracts are written with a heavy penalty, if not by the employer, by the agent (usually through a middleman in her own country so the agent here doesn't run foul of Singapore law. The local agent usually is getting a kickback in cash from the home country middleman. So without actually seeing her contract(s), with the employer and with the agent I really could not hazard a guess. As long as she hasn't broken any Singapore Laws, she won't be in trouble with MOM. MOM likes to catch errant employers and it's they who help to give Singapore a pretty shabby name as far as worker/employer relations go.