My relative and a few other in that company that got laid off did try to negotiate failing to do so, they went to MOM who told them long story but essentially it was their own problem.
http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practic...fault.aspx
Under the Employment Act, an employee who has been employed in a company for at least three years can request for retrenchment benefits if he/she is retrenched.
As the law does not stipulate the quantum to be paid,
the amount is subject to negotiation between the employee and employer. The quantum will also depend on the company's financial position.
An employee who has worked less than three years in a company is not entitled to retrenchment benefits under the Employment Act. However, the company may pay an ex-gratia payment at its discretion.
Both retrenchment benefits and ex-gratia payments do not attract CPF contributions.
maybe not $850 but above $2.5k MOM will not help you
http://www.transitioning.org/2010/06/14/...mployment/
Good day to you. Let me share my unhappy dismissal story with you.
I joined my company on 1st July 08 and on 22 Jan 09 (before Chinese New Year) was informed of my retrenchment ten minutes before knock off.
All I can comment is that my ex-GM simply made use of the economic downtown to retrench me. This is a Taiwan-based company and there isn’t any retrenchment going on from HQ – there are about 100+ employees in Taiwan (HQ) and 5 (including GM) employees in Singapore.
I am a Sales Executive and had managed to close a number of new accounts during my seven months with the company.
Therefore I can’t seem to find any good reason why I got axed off.
Moreover, I have to leave immediately.
Before I left, I was also pressured to sign a “Termination Letter” which I was reluctant to sign as I felt that the letter should be stated as Retrenchment Letter instead. At the same time, I was worried that the company won’t give me my salary if I don’t comply so I signed unwillingly. However. I had requested my HR manager to change it into a Retrenchment letter which she promised that she would do so later. Till today, I have yet to receive the Retrenchment letter from her. She didn’t response to my email as well.
I feel that I was unfairly treated but well, what can a small-time employee like me do anything about it? I tried to seek help from MOM but the Malay lady officer told me that since I had signed the “Termination Form”, there is nothing much I could do.
What’s the point of working so hard and being highly educated and when a crisis hit us, we won’t be able to do anything about being unfairly dismissed? In fact, we will be the first to leave when a downturn hits us and lose out a lot in terms of salary (employers will take advantage of the market downturn and offer you 30% to 50% lesser from your last drawn salary).
I came to realise that our employees are not well-protected in Singapore. I can go all the way down to MOM and take a Queue number, wait for my turn and share my “retrenchment” experience with the frontline officer and ended up getting no help at all. The officer will just say: “Sorry to hear that you are retrenched, but your salary is above $2500.00 therefore MOM can’t do anything about it.”
I am actively looking for a new job now.
Thank you for your time and lending a listening ear to all retrenched people.
Take care and God bless you too.