Wrongful dismissal claims down in second half of 2020, after Q2 spike: MOM

AFTER spiking in the second quarter of 2020, the incidence of wrongful dismissal claims fell back down in the next two quarters, according to the Employment Standards Report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Friday.

The latest report provides figures for the full year of 2020, following a previous report in November that had figures from April 2019 till June 2020.

In 2020, there were 0.39 wrongful dismissal claims lodged for every 1,000 employees. The incidence was higher for local employees at 0.50, compared to 0.14 for foreign employees.

The second quarter - which included the "circuit-breaker" period - contributed most to this, with 436 such claims or an incidence rate of 0.14 per 1,000 employees. This compares to 262 cases or an incidence rate of 0.08 in Q1, and incidence rates of 0.09 in both Q3 and Q4. The report did not provide absolute case numbers for Q3 and Q4.

However, only 26 per cent of all dismissal claims were assessed to be substantiated. In those cases, employers were required to address the claims, for instance by compensating the employee, clearing up any miscommunication, and/or facilitating the employee's job search. Total payments by employers to employees amounted to about S$1.8 million.

The remaining three-quarters were assessed to be unsubstantiated. Said MOM: "Not all employees who seek compensation or reinstatement by lodging dismissal claims were dismissed wrongfully. Some of these claims had arisen due to poor communication by their employers."

For instance, many dismissal claims lodged in Q2 were by employees who had been terminated abruptly, due in part to restrictions on face-to-face meetings during the "circuit-breaker" period. However, most of the employers in these cases had fulfilled their contractual obligations in these terminations.

For unsubstantiated claims, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management will explain to the employees the lack of basis for their claims and refer them to financial assistance programmes such as the Covid-19 Recovery Grant or job facilitation support where applicable.

In 2020, wrongful dismissal claims took longer to conclude. While the majority - 70 per cent - were concluded within two months, this was down from 82 per cent in 2019. Most of the remaining cases took between two and six months to conclude, with less than 1 per cent of all cases taking more than six months.

READ MORE: Singapore sees fewer employment claims, appeals filed in 2020 with sharp fall in foreign worker claims