Workplace Fairness Act

The Workplace Fairness Act 2025 (No. 8 of 2025) (the “Act”) was passed by Parliament on 8 January 2025, and is intended to take effect in 2026 or 2027, with the objective of protecting employees from discrimination on the ground of a ‘protected characteristic’ by their employer.  Under this new legislation, employers are prohibited from making an adverse employment decision on the ground of a ‘protected characteristic’ and are required to implement grievance handling procedures.

This marks a paradigm shift from the existing use of guidelines to regulate discriminatory practices in the workplace. The current regime seeks to encourage fair employment practices through the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (“TGFEP”) but these guidelines do not have the force of law. The new legislation will put in place hard obligations on employers and impose penalties for non-compliance.

In this legal update, we highlight key points under the impending legislation.

Application of the new legislation
The new legislation will only apply to employers that employ 25 or more employees.¹ Any contracts for service (ie, independent contractors) and any arrangement under a platform work agreement do not constitute employment.²

Key definitions
The legislation seeks to address ‘employment decisions’, which are defined as:

1. Pre-employment decisions – decisions on whether to hire an individual or not.³

2. During employment decisions – decisions relating to the appraisal, evaluation or measure of an employee’s performance, promotion or non-promotion, reduction of rank or status of the employee, or the training of the employee.⁴

3. End-employment decisions – any decision in relation to the dismissal, retrenchment or termination of an employee’s contract of service.⁵

In this connection, the legislation outlines 11 ‘protected characteristics’: (a) age, (b) nationality, (c) sex, (d) marital status, (e) pregnancy, (f) caregiving responsibilities, (g) race, (h) religion, (i) language ability, (j) disability and (k) mental health condition.

As acknowledged by the Minister for Manpower at the Second Reading of the Workplace Fairness Bill, the list of ‘protected characteristics’ is not designed to be comprehensive and remains open to future updates. The TGFEP will continue to complement and cover all other forms of workplace discrimination.

Prohibited forms of discrimination and exceptions
The legislation prohibits three forms of discrimination:

1. Discrimination against individuals – Employers are prohibited from making an ‘employment decision’ that adversely affects an individual on the ground of a ‘protected characteristic’ of the individual.⁶

2. Discrimination by direction, instruction or policy – Employers are also prohibited from issuing, communicating or publishing any discriminatory direction, instruction or policy in writing. This includes instructions given to employees to make, on behalf of the employer, any ‘employment decision’ that adversely affects an individual, or such ‘employment decisions’ generally, on grounds of any protected characteristic. It is immaterial whether the employer in fact makes any employment decision on the grounds of a protected characteristic.⁷

3. Discrimination by advertisement or description – Employers are further prohibited from publishing or causing to be published in Singapore a job advertisement or description that mentions expressly or by implication a protected characteristic as a condition, criterion, requirement, advantage, disadvantage or disqualification for employment.⁸

The prohibitions are generally subject to exceptions, which include the situation where a protected characteristic is a ‘genuine requirement of the job’.⁹ It may be a ‘genuine requirement of the job’ if, for example, the job cannot be reasonably performed by an individual unless the individual has (or does not have) that protected characteristic.¹⁰

Notably, employers are allowed to prefer older individuals over younger individuals in hiring, and to prefer Singapore citizens and permanent residents in all their employment decisions.

Grievance handling process and prohibition against retaliation
Employers are expected to set up grievance-handling processes and inform employees about the procedures.¹¹ Generally, employers are expected to commit to:

1. inquiring into each grievance raised by an employee;

2. review each grievance;

3. inform each employee who has raised a grievance, in a stated manner, of the outcome of the review;

4. keep, for a stated period, a written record of every inquiry and review;

5. maintain confidentiality of the grievance.

A ‘grievance’ is defined to mean any grievance, allegation or complaint raised by an employee to his or her employer in relation to discrimination by the employer or any harassment by the employer or by another employee of the employer.

The legislation also prohibits employers from retaliating against staff who report workplace discrimination. Retaliatory actions include dismissing the employee; failing to fulfil any obligation in its contract of service with the employee; harassment; deducting the employee’s salary; refusal to offer re-employment; refusal to offer an employment assistance payment or any other action aimed to victimise the employee.¹²

Potential penalties against employers and officers
A breach of the legislation would result in a ‘civil contravention’.¹³ The range of administrative financial penalties are to be prescribed under subsidiary legislation.¹⁴ In lieu of or in addition to administrative financial penalties, the Ministry of Manpower may direct an employer to take the appropriate action to address the civil contravention.¹⁵ An employer who, without reasonable excuse fails to comply with such direction shall be guilty of an offence.¹⁶

The legislation also provides for ‘serious civil contraventions’ such as repeated contraventions, or retaliation against an employee for reporting on workplace discrimination by terminating the employee’s employment.¹⁷ The Commissioner for Workplace Fairness may with the permission of the Public Prosecutor seek orders from court for a civil penalty in respect of a serious civil contravention.¹⁸

Notably, individual officers of companies may find themselves personally liable for the same civil contravention, serious civil contravention, or offence if the contravention or offence was committed with the consent or connivance of the officer.¹⁹

Closing remarks
With the legislation set to take effect in a year or two, it would be prudent for employers to use the intervening time to prepare for compliance. While the legislation is not expected to cover small businesses. the Minister indicated at the Second Reading that the scope of the legislation is subject to a review 5 years after the law is implemented.

Ultimately, the key objective of this landmark Act is to make certain that employers establish a harmonious and fair workplace environment. It necessitates employers to step up their grievance management procedures and ensure that workplace discrimination, as well as retaliation against employees who report workplace discrimination, is strictly not tolerated within the organisation.

If you have any questions about how the impending legislation will impact your business, please do not hesitate to contact us:

Matthew Teo (matthew.teo@helmsmanlaw.com)

Daniel Ho (daniel.ho@helmsmanlaw.com)

This publication is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. It does not purport to be comprehensive or address every aspect of the matters discussed. While we strive to ensure the accuracy of the information at the time of publication, we make no representations or warranties as to its accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any particular purpose. You should seek specific legal or professional advice before taking any action based on the contents of this publication. We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage arising from any reliance placed on this publication or its contents. No lawyer-client relationship is created by this publication.

¹ Section 4(1) of the Act.

² Section 4(3) of the Act.

³ Section 5 of the Act.

⁴ Section 6 of the Act.

⁵ Section 7 of the Act.

⁶ Section 17 of the Act.

⁷ Section 18 of the Act.

⁸ Section 19 of the Act.

⁹ Section 20(1) of the Act.

¹⁰ Section 20(2)(a) of the Act.

¹¹ Section 27 of the Act.

¹² Section 28(2) of the Act.

¹³ Section 29 of the Act.

¹⁴ Section 31 of the Act.

¹⁵ Section 33(1) of the Act.

¹⁶ Section 33(2) of the Act.

¹⁷ Section 30 of the Act.

¹⁸ Section 34(1) of the Act.

¹⁹ Section 36(1) of the Act.