Retirement and Re-employment (Amendment) Bill

by inserting, immediately before the definitions of “approved mediator” and “claim referral certificate”, the following definition:“ “agreed date” means a date specified for the purposes of section 7C(1A)(a) in a consent form mentioned in section 7C(6);”;

by inserting, immediately after the words “specified age” in the definition of “re‑employment”, the words “applicable to that employee”;

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “re‑employment”, the following definitions:“ “re‑employment contract” means a contract of service entered into between an eligible employee and an employer to re‑employ the eligible employee for the purposes of section 7A(1) or (3)(a)(i);“re‑employment obligations” means an employer’s obligations to re‑employ an eligible employee in accordance with section 7A, failing which, to offer the eligible employee employment assistance payment in accordance with section 7C(1)(a);”; and

by deleting the words “an employment contract” in paragraph (b)(ii) of the definition of “specified age” and substituting the words “a contract of service”.

by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:“(1) For the purposes of this Act, an employee is eligible for re‑employment in accordance with section 7A if —

the employee is born on or after 1 July 1952; and

the employer assesses the employee as —

having at least satisfactory work performance; and

being medically fit to continue working.”; and

by inserting, immediately after subsection (2), the following subsection:“(3) Where an employer does not intend to re‑employ an employee because the employee does not meet the criteria in subsection (1)(b), then as far as it is reasonably practicable, the employer must give the employee written notice of that intention within a reasonable period before terminating the employee’s employment.”.

by deleting the word “An” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “Subject to section 7C, an”;

by deleting paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and substituting the following paragraph:“(a)an employee mentioned in section 7(1)(a) continues, after attaining the specified age, to work for his employer; and”;

by deleting the words “section 7(1)” in subsection (3)(a)(ii) and substituting the words “section 7(1)(b)”;

by deleting the words “new contract of service” in subsection (4) and substituting the words “re‑employment contract”;

by deleting the words “new contract of service for the purpose of re‑employment under subsection (1) or (3)(a)(i)” in subsection (6) and substituting the words “re‑employment contract”;

by deleting subsection (7) and substituting the following subsection:“(7) Despite subsection (6), where the period between —

the start of re‑employment under a re‑employment contract for an employee; and

the date on which the employee attains the age of 65 years or such other age, up to 67 years, as may be prescribed by the Minister,is less than one year, the period of employment under the re‑employment contract may be for that shorter period.”; and

by deleting subsection (8).

by deleting the words “new contract of service” wherever they appear in subsections (1) and (2) and substituting in each case the words “re‑employment contract”;

by deleting subsection (3) and substituting the following subsection:“(3) An employee’s continuity of employment under re‑employment is not broken if his employer re‑employs or renews the re‑employment of the employee in accordance with section 7A(4).”; and

by deleting the words “employment contract” in the section heading and substituting the words “contract of service”.

by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:“(1) Section 7A does not apply if an employer (in this section called E1) is unable to re‑employ an eligible employee in accordance with section 7A because E1 is unable to find a vacancy in E1’s establishment that is suitable for the eligible employee, despite making reasonable attempts to do so in accordance with the tripartite guidelines, and —

E1 offers an employment assistance payment to the eligible employee; or

during the eligible employee’s employment with E1 —

another employer (in this section called E2) offers to employ the eligible employee in lieu of E1; and

the eligible employee accepts the offer.(1A) Subject to any modifications as may be prescribed, where subsection (1)(b) applies —

E1’s re‑employment obligations to the eligible employee are discharged immediately before the agreed date;

any reference to an employer in section 7A or 7B(3), or to E1 in subsection (1), includes a reference to E2 from that agreed date; and

E1’s re‑employment obligations towards the eligible employee survive any unlawful dismissal by E1 of the eligible employee before the agreed date, but to the extent provided in paragraphs (a) and (b).”;

by deleting the words “Notwithstanding subsection (1)” in subsection (2) and substituting the words “Despite subsection (1)(a)”;

by inserting, immediately after subsection (4), the following subsections:“(5) Without affecting section 7B, where E2 enters into a contract of service with an eligible employee in lieu of E1, any period for which the eligible employee has served under E1 before he commences his service with E2 is to be reckoned only for the purposes of —

computing the minimum period of 3 months for entitlement to annual leave under section 43(1) of the Employment Act (Cap. 91); and

determining the period of service of an employee for entitlement to paid sick leave under section 89(1) and (2) of the Employment Act.(6) A consent form signified by E1, E2 and the eligible employee in the prescribed form and manner is prima facie proof of the matters mentioned in subsection (1)(b).(7) To avoid doubt, the references to an eligible employee’s employer in Parts IV and V include references to E2, where applicable.”; and

by inserting, immediately after the words “Employment assistance payment” in the section heading, the words “or alternative employment”.

the renewal of a re‑employment contract; or

the employment of an eligible employee by another employer as mentioned in section 7C(1)(b).”.