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When Are Singapore Employees Entitled to Retrenchment Benefits? *
Author(s) -
Debrah Yaw A.,
Geok Wee Beng
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
asia pacific journal of human resources
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.825
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1744-7941
pISSN - 1038-4111
DOI - 10.1177/103841119503300105
Subject(s) - retrenchment , business , management , labour economics , operations management , economics , political science , public administration
This paper provides a general review of employees’ entitlement to retrenchment benefits in Singapore. It examines why regulatory legislation has failed to guarantee retrenchment benefits to some employees of liquidated companies. In so doing, it highlights the loopholes in the legislation and then examines how the 1993 amendment to the Companies Act (Cap. 50) deals with these loopholes. The article argues that while the amendment to the Companies Act enables employees in liquidated companies to claim retrenchment benefits, problems that remain in the retrenchment benefits legislation could prevent involuntarily terminated employees in a reorganized company from claiming retrenchment benefits. These problems arise because of the lack of precise definition of the term ‘retrenchment’ in the Employment Act, and of the term ‘reorganization’ in botb the Employment Act and the Companies Act. In view of these problems, it is suggested that a clear definition of ‘retrenchment’ in terms of dismissal or involuntary termination beyond the control of the employee would be useful.