Employment claims rise in 2025 amid business reorganisation and restructuring
But salary recovery and resolution rates remain high, say MOM and TADM
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[SINGAPORE] Employment claims – comprising salary and wrongful dismissal claims – grew in 2025, but this does not reflect a broad-based deterioration in employment standards, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) said on Friday (Jul 24).
Instead, the rise was likely driven by labour market conditions amid business reorganisation and restructuring, they said, noting: “The incidence of employment claims is closely linked to job turnover – dismissals, retrenchments and business cessations – all of which have trended upwards in 2025.”
The rate of employment claims and appeals grew to 3.44 per 1,000 employees in 2025, up from 3.12 in 2024, the latest Employment Standards Report showed.
In total, 13,083 employment claims and appeals were lodged with MOM and TADM in 2025, with 5,689 (43 per cent) by local employees, and the remaining 7,394 (57 per cent) by foreign employees.
There were 10,801 salary claims and 2,168 wrongful dismissal claims.
The rest were dismissal appeals lodged under the Retirement and Re-employment Act and the Industrial Relations Act, as well as cases in which TADM offered voluntary mediation for issues not covered by employment law, such as payment disputes between self-employed persons and service buyers.
More than 80 per cent of employment claims were resolved at TADM through mediation, and more than 90 per cent of claimants fully recovered their salaries and payments at TADM and the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT).
Salary claims jump
The incidence of salary claims continued to grow from 2021 to exceed pre-Covid levels for the first time, led by foreign employees.
It was up at 2.84 per 1,000 employees in 2025, from 2.63 in 2024. In 2019, there were 2.68 salary claims per 1,000 employees.
The rate of salary claims has remained higher for foreign employees than local ones, MOM and TADM noted. Most of these claims arose from end-of-employment situations, such as disputes over final salary payments and cases where employers faced financial difficulties, they said.
For locals, there were 1.61 salary claims per 1,000 employees in 2025, largely similar to 1.59 in 2024.
Administrative and support services (12 per cent) was the top sector for salary claims by local employees in 2025. It was followed by professional, scientific and technical activities (10 per cent); F&B service activities (9 per cent); and wholesale trade (9 per cent).
“Salary claims amongst local employees were generally spread across industries, with no single sector dominating,” the report said. “This is reflected in the similar share of claims across the top few sectors and, as a result, the top sectors tend to vary from year to year.”
Information and communications, which was the top sector for local employees’ salary claims in 2024, was not among the main sectors hit in 2025.
For foreign employees, the incidence of salary claims was much higher, at 5.16 per 1,000 employees, up from 4.64 in 2024.
Construction (46 per cent) was the main contributor for such claims, followed by F&B and professional, scientific and technical activities.
Within the last sector, the increase in salary claims came mainly from the subsector of architectural and engineering activities, technical testing and analysis, where claimants were mostly construction workers or process construction and maintenance workers, MOM and TADM said.
At 88 per cent, the proportion of salary claims resolved at TADM was slightly under 2024’s 90 per cent. The remaining cases were referred to ECT for adjudication.
Some 88 per cent of all salary claims were concluded – either resolved at TADM or referred to ECT – within two months in 2025, up from 87 per cent in 2024.
TADM and ECT helped 92 per cent of employees recover their salaries in full last year, down slightly from 2024’s 94 per cent, though recovery outcomes have stayed mostly stable over the past five years.
The authorities noted that 5 per cent recovered part of their salaries through settlement payments from security bond insurers and main contractors, or state financial assistance for lower-wage workers. The last 3 per cent who did not recover any part of their salaries were mainly higher-income earners.
MOM curtailed access to foreign manpower for employers who did not fully pay their employees’ salaries.
Less than 1 per cent of the salary claims lodged in 2025 involved employers who wilfully refused to make full payment for salary arrears despite having the means to do so, MOM and TADM said.
A total of S$22 million was recovered for employees in 2025, up from 2024’s S$19 million, in line with the higher number of claims lodged.
Wrongful dismissal claims pick up
The incidence of wrongful dismissal claims, at 0.57 per 1,000 employees in 2025, was higher than the 0.46 in 2024.
Similar to previous years, this rate was higher for locals (0.64 claims per 1,000 employees) than foreigners (0.44).
Most of the cases, at 67 per cent, were resolved at TADM, slightly lower than the 71 per cent in 2024. The rest were referred to ECT.
In 65 per cent of the cases resolved at TADM, employers were found to have fulfilled their obligations, or the case was withdrawn after mediation. The rest involved some form of settlement by the employer.
Most of the wrongful dismissal claims – 87 per cent – were concluded within two months in 2025, a nudge higher than 86 per cent in the year before.
Total payments for dismissal claims rose to S$2.7 million from S$2.1 million, due to the higher volume of such claims.
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