MOM Prosecutes Employer for Failing to Provide Acceptable Accomodation

Maint-Kleen Pte Ltd was convicted and fined a total of $7,500 in Court on 26 June 2007 for failing to provide acceptable accommodation for their foreign workers. This is the first time that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has prosecuted an employer for such an offence.

Facts of the case

2. Acting on information received, an inspection was conducted in February 2006 at Waterloo Street where four workers from Maint-Kleen Pte Ltd were found housed in a public toilet. Investigations revealed that Maint-Kleen Pte Ltd had failed to provide acceptable accommodation for four of its foreign workers - the foreign workers cooked, ate and slept in the toilet of the inspected premise.

Providing acceptable accommodation for foreign workers

3. The Ministry has stepped up its enforcement actions against employers who fail to provide acceptable accommodation, especially those who house their workers under conditions that endanger the latter's safety and health. Between January and May 2007, 116 employers failed to provide acceptable housing for their foreign workers. Of these employers, 18 were issued composition fines amounting to $30,700 and the others were issued warning letters. All these employers have since taken steps to provide acceptable housing for their foreign workers.

4. MOM would like to remind employers of foreign workers that they are responsible for the well-being of their workers, including the provision of acceptable accommodation¹. Employers who fail to provide acceptable accommodation for their foreign workers are in breach of the Work Permit conditions. They face prosecution under Section 22(1)(a) of the Employment of Foreign Workers Act (EFWA). The penalty for each breach of Work Permit conditions is a fine not exceeding $5,000 or 6 months' imprisonment, or both, for each count. In addition, the breach will be taken into consideration when the Ministry considers the employer's subsequent applications for Work Permits.

¹ Acceptable accommodation are premises which have been approved by URA or other relevant authorities to house workers. These premises must also comply with the various statutory requirements such as proper land use by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Housing and Development Board or the Jurong Town Corporation, environmental health requirements by the National Environment Agency (NEA), fire safety by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), building structural safety by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and drainage and sanitary/sewage system by the Public Utilities Board (PUB).

Cooking and eating equipment were found at the inspected premise

Foreign workers housed in a public toilet