Singapore Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng responded on 3 October to MP Yip Hon Weng’s question in parliament about how many companies have been placed under the TAFEP watchlist last year for breaches of the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF); and MP Louis Chua who asked about the number of incident where companies who placed job ads had breached the FCF.
Snippet of Tan See Leng’s response in Parliament
Lastly, on fair consideration. There is no place for discrimination in Singapore. MOM does not and will not tolerate unfair hiring practices, and employers who do not give locals a fair chance will face stiff penalties. The Fair Consideration Framework, or FCF, sets out requirements for all employers to consider local workers fairly for job opportunities. Work is underway to enshrine this in legislation.
Mr Yip Hon Weng asked about the number of companies placed on the FCF Watchlist. Firms are placed on the FCF Watchlist if they have an exceptionally high share of foreign PMETs compared to their industry peers, or a high concentration of a single foreign nationality source. But members of the House, let me reiterate this. Firms placed on the FCF Watchlist have not flouted any rules. Instead, what the Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices, or TAFEP, does is to engage these companies to help them improve their workforce profiles. Since 2016, MOM has engaged a total of more than 1,700 employers under the FCF.
One other limb of FCF is the job advertising requirement. Employers must first advertise on MyCareersFuture, or MCF, and fairly consider all candidates, before submitting an EP or S Pass application. Mr Louis Chua asked whether companies need to notify MOM on the outcome of a job posting when it is subsequently delisted or when the role is filled. We do not require companies to do so, just like how they need not do so for other job portals. We are conscious of the fact that we should not add administrative burden and make it onerous for employers to use MCF.
While the number of cases of discriminatory practices is small, MOM will continue to  remain vigilant. Besides investigating complaints lodged with TAFEP, we also use data analytics to identify suspicious cases for further investigation. And where employers are found to be discriminatory, MOM will not hesitate to take action against such employers. In response to Mr Louis Chua’s and Mr Yip Hon Weng’s questions, from 2017 to 2021, MOM took enforcement actions against approximately 300 companies. The regulatory actions included issuance of warning, and being barred from hiring or renewing foreign workers.