MOM: Phantom Worker Scammers Face Fine, Jail

MOM: Phantom Worker Scammers Face Fine, Jail
- The Sunday Times, 09 March 2009

Please refer to the letter by Mr Francis Han, "Why bosses use phantom workers" (Sunday Times, 1 Mar 2009).

2.   'Phantom' worker scams are not win-win propositions. 'Phantom' workers do not have genuine work and do not earn an honest wage. To condone such behaviour would also undermine the majority of law-abiding employers, who seek to work within the laws governing the entry of foreign workers.

3.   Employers who have resorted to 'phantom' workers should immediately stop doing so. They should employ genuine local workers or cancel the work permits of their existing foreign workers to ensure compliance with foreign worker quotas. If they choose to continue with such fraudulent conduct, they will face a fine of up to $15,000, or 12 months imprisonment, or both, on each charge.

4.   'Phantom' workers who collude with an employer by providing their particulars for use in making fraudulent CPF contributions in order to meet the requirements of Work Permit applications can also be charged for abetting the offence. They will face the same penalties as the errant employer – a fine of up to $15,000, or 12 months imprisonment, or both, on each charge.

5.   MOM will not hesitate to take action against such errant employers. Recently, we have charged a total of 15 employers in court for 581 charges of falsely declaring the number of local workers employed so as to inflate their foreign worker entitlement.

6.   Anyone with information of employers hiring phantom workers for their businesses can contact MOM at (65) 64385122 or via email at mom_fmmd@mom.gov.sg.

Why Bosses Use 'Phantom Workers'
- The Sunday Times, 01 March 2009

I refer to the report last Sunday, 'Singapore's phantom workers'.

The $800 to $900 pay range reported is lower than the actual amount needed to hire a foreign worker. While the actual wage the worker gets is about $800 to $900, there are hidden costs. Among these are the foreign worker levy, the cost of accommodation and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions for the Singaporeans or permanent residents employed before one foreign worker can be hired.

The cost of hiring one foreign worker could add up to more than $1,500 - roughly what is needed to hire a local worker - but employers may still prefer to hire foreign workers as they are deemed more reliable than locals. To most employers, this so-called scam to get around a quota system for hiring cheaper foreign labour is not a case of fraud, but a win-win situation, as they help some older folk here by contributing to their CPF, as well as gain reliable workers. The Government should rethink its policy on this issue.

Singaporeans nowadays do not want menial jobs and even if they do, they ask for comparatively higher wages and more benefits. If this system continues, food and beverage outlets as well as hotels and resorts would not be able to function to their full extent because of all the overheads.