Wife working on weekend non-stop
Hi, So my wife has just got a job not long ago as a publishing house editor. She has been working on every weekend for like up to 3 weeks plus. Now her employer says because she earned more than 2600 a month she’s not entitled to OT or anything.
Is this even legal? My wife says her company quoted MOM saying that shes not covered under part IV of Employment Act.
I would like to ask for advice if anyone has any.
Edit: The main point of this post is really to see if this is a common practice in Singapore. And unfortunately I guess it is… I can only imagine how many people are being worked to death just to earn what they rightfully deserve. And they probably deserve even more.
So here is the thing, there are deadlines to meet and her company deals with government projects so I guess it is pretty intense.
Her boss asks her to work on weekend because almost every Friday the ministry will send in one last round of feedback when the deadline is on Monday. And in order to fix those comments from the client, as an editor she has to consolidate the comments and then instruct various designers, artists and the authors to make the changes and then consolidate those changes to submit on Monday.
She is a very capable and meticulous woman and she seldom fails to deliver. But I guess in this case there is really not much she can mange “better” so that she can avoid being so last minute. It is just not up to her.
Netizens’ comments
- If i’m her and i don’t absolutely need this job i’ll quit instantly, not worth trying to last one year for your resume to look clean, by the time her mental health is damaged it won’t be worth it.
Also mom has a limit on OT hours worked per month on phone can’t quote properly but see below.
Maximum hours of overtime An employee can only work up to 72 overtime hours in a month. - Is she forced to go to work on weekends?
Or are there deadlines to meet that are especially intense this time of the year?
Or is it because she is new at this job and she isn’t editing as fast as the employer thinks she should be, and therefore she needs to catch up on the weekend?
Not entitled to OT is correct. She’s an executive, and working extra hard to meet deadlines is legal.
The question is whether your wife wants to keep the job or not. She’s not going to get more money for sure. - PMETs have very few protections under the law here. Unless it’s in the contract, there’s no paid OT. You can find out more on the MOM website. Check her contract too.
coverage of part iv https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/employment-act/who-is-covered
Editors are usually tertiary educated professionals I think. Rough luck, she should check what her notice period is and see if she can find a better job elsewhere.