On 31 July 2017, the Ministry of Manpower, the National Trades Union Congress, and the Singapore National Employers Federation jointly released the new Tripartite Standard on Employment of Term Contract Employees (the “Standard“). The new Standard is not mandatory, but employers who adopt the Standards can distinguish themselves terms of human resource and employment practices, enhancing their attractiveness as employers and staff retention.
Term contract employees are those who are on fixed-term contracts of employment that will terminate upon the expiry of a specific term unless it is renewed. Term contract employees on shorter-term, separate contracts of less than the statutory minimum service period of 3 months will be able to enjoy leave benefits and notice period should their cumulative period of contracts be at least three months.
All term contracts of service of 14 days or more, which are renewed within 1 month from the end of the previous contract, are treated as continuous service. The following statutory leave benefits under the Employment Act and the Child Development Co-Savings Act are awarded based on the cumulative length of such “continuous service”:
a) Annual leave
b) Sick leave
c) Maternity Leave
d) Paternity Leave
e) Adoption leave
f) Child-care leave and extended child-care leave
Where there is early termination or non-renewal of the term contract, the cumulative length of service is used for purposes of calculating the notice period, as follows:
[Cumulative length of service shall not be less than / Notice period]
- Less than 26 weeks / 1 day
- At least 26 weeks but less than 2 years / 1 week
- At least 2 years but less than 5 years / 2 weeks
- At least 5 years / 4 weeks
Employees are to be trained to perform their jobs effectively, including on-the-job training, online courses and workshops.