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Manufacturing Firm First to be Charged for Non-Compliance with Rostered Routine Testing Requirements

Foreign manpower Employment practices

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has charged Bescoat Manufacturing Pte Ltd (“Bescoat”) and Tan Siew Lee (“Tan”), general manager of Bescoat, for failing to comply with the guidelines issued by MOM, which requires employers to schedule their foreign employees for Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) to test for COVID-19 infection every 14 days.

           

2 Bescoat and Tan, allegedly failed to send three of their migrant workers for their RRT, which is critical to public health efforts to detect and contain the transmission of the COVID-19. Workers who reside in dormitories are required to attend RRT, due to the greater risk of transmission associated with communal living.

 

3 For failing to establish and apply appropriate procedures and controls to comply with RRT requirements, Bescoat is liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 if convicted. Similarly, Tan is liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000, or imprisonment for up to 12 months, or both, if convicted.

 

ACTIONS TAKEN BY MOM AGAINST OTHER FIRMS FOR SIMILAR OFFENCES

 

4 MOM takes a stern view of non-compliance with the prevailing RRT requirements. Over the past seven months, MOM has administered composition fines and stern warnings to 10 companies for failing to ensure their workers comply with RRT requirements. These breaches occurred despite regular reminders from MOM to employers.

 

REMINDER TO ALL EMPLOYERS AND WORK PASS HOLDERS

 

5 We seek the cooperation of employers to ensure our workers are able to live and work in a safe manner by complying with the RRT for COVID-19 infection and AccessCode requirements1. These measures were established to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmitting among workers and into the community, and are necessary to safeguard public health.

 

FOOTNOTE

  1. AccessCode is a central system used by MOM to manage risk and movement of migrant workers. It provides workers with a colour status to indicate if they can leave their residence for work. A “Red” status indicates that the worker has failed to meet prevailing requirements on health, residency and movement and is hence not permitted to work, while a “Green” status indicates that the worker is cleared to return to work. Employers and workers can access their workers’ AccessCode status on the SGWorkpass mobile application.