“Posting this as a warning to job seekers.
I was finding job 6 months ago through a recruiter, let’s call them ‘C’. They offered me a job and I accepted the offer via signing of LOA.
But I had a change of mind, and eventually told C that I’m not interested, and did not turn up at the client’s place to sign the letter of appointment (LOA).
Before that I did ask C for the LOA, but C had insisted not to give, saying its for audit compliance and does not carry any of the employment obligation between me and the recruiter.
After I rejected the offer, C reiterated our email exchange and mentioned that there is a contractual obligation between us.
In our contract, it was mentioned that I would only consider accepting any client’s job offer if C could garner a minimum monthly basic salary of S$XXXX, which C had successfully done so based on my request.
C had negotiated with this client without my knowledge or request, saying that there was 1 competing candidate and C had negotiated for the client to accept me.
C is threatening legal proceedings against me for breach of contract if I do not pay them a compensation of 1 month in salary as per the contractual obligations, which had also stated that if I reneged an offer after acceptance, they could seek compensation from me.
What should I do?”
MOM’s guidelines
Once an employment contract has been signed, both employers and employees should be prepared to fulfil their contractual obligations. In exceptional cases when they are not able to do so, they should inform the other party as soon as possible.
If an employee does not show up on the first day of work, the Employment Act does not apply as the employer-employee relationship has not started.
An employer will not be able to claim notice pay or any other compensation provided for in the Employment Act. They can consider a civil claim filed through their own lawyer.