82. Injuring employee on account of industrial action

Amended

Last amended by an amending law of 2010.

(1)

An employer shall not dismiss or threaten to dismiss an employee or injure or threaten to injure him in his employment or alter or threaten to alter his position to his prejudice, by reason of the circumstance that the employee —

(a)

is, or proposes to become, an officer or member of a trade union or an association that has applied to be registered as a trade union;

(b)

is entitled to the benefit of a collective agreement or an award;

(c)

has appeared or proposes to appear as a witness, or has given or proposes to give any evidence, in any proceedings under this Act;

(d)

being a member of a trade union which is seeking to improve working conditions, is dissatisfied with such working conditions;

(e)

is a member of a trade union which has served a notice under section 18 or which is a party to negotiations under this Act or to a trade dispute which has been notified to the Registrar in accordance with Part 3;

(f)

has absented himself from work without leave for the purpose of carrying out his duties or exercising his rights as an officer of a trade union where he applied for leave in accordance with section 81 before he absented himself and leave was unreasonably deferred or withheld; or

(g)

being a member of a panel appointed under section 6, has absented himself from work for the purpose of performing his functions and duties as a member of a Court and has notified the employer before he absented himself.

(2)

An employer who contravenes any provision of subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction by a District Court to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(3)

Where an employer has been convicted of an offence punishable under subsection (2), the Court by which the employer is convicted may order that the employer pay to the employee the amount of any wages lost by him and also direct the employer to reinstate the employee in his former position or a similar position.

(4)

Where an amount ordered to be paid under subsection (3) is not paid in accordance with the order, the amount or so much thereof as remains unpaid shall be recoverable as if it were a fine and the amount so recovered shall be paid to the employee entitled under the order.

(5)

An employer who fails to comply with a direction given under subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction by a District Court to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

(6)

Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting a Court from inquiring into the dismissal or the reinstatement of an employee who has been allegedly dismissed in contravention of this section before any proceedings have commenced in a District Court.

Terms defined in s 2

award
Defined · s 2
“award” means an award made by a Court;
Open s 2
collective agreement
Defined · s 2
“collective agreement” means an agreement as to industrial matters;
Open s 2
Court
Defined · s 2
“Court” means an Industrial Arbitration Court established under section 3;
Open s 2
employee
Defined · s 2
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer and includes an officer or servant of the Government included in a category, class or description of such officers or servants declared by notification in the Gazette by the President of Singapore to be employees for the purposes of this Act, but does not include any person or class of persons whom the Minister may from time to time by notification in the Gazette declare not to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
Open s 2
employer
Defined · s 2
“employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes —(a)the Government in respect of such categories, classes or descriptions of officers or servants of the Government as from time to time are declared by the President of Singapore to be employees for the purposes of this Act;(b)a statutory authority;(c)a duly authorised agent or manager of an employer;(d)a person who owns, or is carrying on, or is for the time being responsible for the management or control of a profession, business, trade or work in which an employee is engaged;(e)for the purposes of Parts 5, 6 and 7, the transferor of an undertaking whose employment of employees is transferred by virtue of section 18A of the Employment Act 1968;
Open s 2
officer
Defined · s 2
“officer”, in relation to a trade union or a branch of a trade union, includes any member of the body, by whatever name called, to which the management of the affairs of the trade union or branch is entrusted;
Open s 2
Registrar
Defined · s 2
“Registrar” means the Registrar of the Courts appointed under this Act and includes a Deputy Registrar and an Assistant Registrar;
Open s 2
trade dispute
Defined · s 2
“trade dispute” means a dispute (including a threatened, impending or probable dispute) as to industrial matters;
Open s 2
trade union
Defined · s 2
“trade union” means a trade union of employees or employers registered under any written law for the time being in force relating to the registration of trade unions;
Open s 2

Report

Read on from s 83