Singapore Payroll Regulations – What You Need to Know?

It is prudent to outsource payroll processing to professional service providers as they ensure accuracy and compliance. The following is the key regulations relating to payroll in Singapore. The Employment Act (EA) applies to employees (irrespective of nationality) who are working under a contract of service. It does not include seamen , domestic workers and persons employed by statutory boards and government. From 1 April 2014, the EA, excluding provisions in Part IV, is applicable to managers and executives earning a basic monthly salary not exceeding S$4,500.

Salary

薪酬是指报酬，包括雇主与雇员在服务合同或就业合同合同之间商定的津贴。它包括基本的薪酬，奖励，委员会，奖金和津贴。工资不包括雇主为住房，旅行，公用事业，医疗或其他类似福利提供的福利。重要的是要注意新加坡没有最低工资法。薪资是雇主和雇员之间的相互商达金额。它可以在双方之间进行谈判。Though there is no minimum wage legislation generally, there are exceptions such as, in the case of foreigners who are under Work Passes (i.e. Employment Pass, S Pass, Work Permit), they must meet the minimum salary criteria for their respective passes in order to qualify.. Likewise, the government has earmarked companies in the cleaning, security and landscape industries, for minimum salary to workers. Companies in the cleaning sector is the first to have the Progressive Wage Model, whereby they are required to pay a basic wage of S$1,000 per month for their workers as a mandatory licensing requirement.

付款频率

In general, an employee must be paid at least once a month and it must be paid within seven days from the end of the salary period. Payments for overtime work must be made within 14 days from the end of salary period. However there are a few exceptions as below:

Situation	薪水付款
Dismissal/ Termination of Employee	On the last day of employment or within 3 days from the date of dismissal or termination
雇员辞职并申请通知期	On the last day of employment
Resignation by the employee and does not serve notice period	Within 7 days from the last day of employment

Method of Payment

工资必须在工作日和工作时间内支付工作时间，或在工作地点或其他相互商定的地方。它也可以支付员工的个人/联合银行账户。

Itemized Pay slips

From 1 April 2016, employers are required to give itemized pay slips to all employees covered under the EA and such pay slips must be given along with the payment of salary or within three days from the payment of salary. In case of termination or dismissal, pay slips must be given along with the payment of outstanding salary. It may be a hard or soft copy, though hand written pay slips are also permissible. The following details must be included in the pay slip.

• Name of employer and employee
• Date of payment
• 基础工资
• Salary Period – start and end date
• Allowances
• Any other pay such as, bonuses, rest day pay, public holiday pay etc
• Deductions made
• Overtime hours worked
• 加班费
• Start and end date of overtime pay period (if different from salary period)
• 净薪资支付

Record Keeping

The employer must keep records of the pay slips in either soft or hard copy. In the case of current employees, records must be kept for the latest two years and in the case of former employees, the records for the last two years must be maintained for a period of one year after the employees leave the employment. In addition to the salary records, the employer must also keep records of employees. The Employee Records must contain the following information.

• Address of employee
• 数量/工作通行证号码和到期日
• 性别
• 雇佣开始日期
• Date of leaving employment
• Working hours – including duration of breaks
• 休假日期和公众假期

授权扣除

Employers may deduct salary only for reasons allowed under the Act, or if ordered by the Court. Such authorized deductions can be made for the following:

• 因为没有工作（没有有效的原因或通知）
• For damage or loss of goods or money that the employee was accountable for. But it must be noted that such deduction is allowed only after an inquiry is held and the deduction must not exceed 25% of the monthly salary of the employee. Such deductions can be made as a one-time deduction only.
• For cost of meals supplied at the request of the employee.
• For the cost of accommodation, amenities and services agreed and accepted by the employee and such deduction cannot exceed the value of the supplies made and cannot be more than 25% of the monthly salary.
• 恢复促进，贷款或超额薪水。必须指出的是，对于预付款和贷款，可以在分期付款中扣除不超过12个月的时间分批进行，每次扣除不能超过月薪的25％。在过度补偿的情况下，可以从员工中完全扣除专业金额。
• 对于CPF捐款
• 对于批准的计划
• For payment to any registered cooperative society, with the employee’s consent
• For any other purposes approved by the Ministry of Manpower

The maximum amount of deduction for a salary period is limited to 50% of the total salary. This does not include deduction made for absence from work, recovery of advances/loans, income tax, and payments to the registered societies that the employee has consented. However, in case of termination, the cap on deduction is not applicable, and the employer is allowed to deduct for all outstanding amounts owed by the employee.

可变组件

Monthly Variable Component

这是一项月度激励计划，该计划建立在薪水中，以提高员工的生产力。除非在雇佣合同或集体协议中规定，否则奖励计划不是强制性成分。

奖金

除非在雇佣合同或集体协议中规定，否则这不是强制性的。通常在一年结束时支付一次。

年薪补充

普遍称为“十三个月”薪水，此单一年度付款不是强制性，如果业务表现较差，雇主可以谈判较低的AWS。

Non-Compliance

The failure to pay salary in accordance with the EA constitutes an offence under the EA. A first-time offender will be liable to a fine of between $3,000 and $15,000 and/or 6 months’ imprisonment. A subsequent offence will be liable to a fine of between $6,000 and $30,000 and/or 12 months’ imprisonment.

Calculating Salary

每月基本费率

:这是一个员工的基本工资是entitled according to the employment contract and does not include allowances, bonuses, incentives or reimbursements paid to the employee. Basic rate of pay is used to compute the pay for working on a rest day or public holiday and overtime pay. It is computed as follows

12 x monthly basic rate of pay
————————————
52 x average number of days an employee is required to work in a week

每月总率

This is the money payable, including allowances, to an employee for one month. But this does not include bonuses, reimbursements, incentives and allowances paid for food, travelling and housing. This is used to compute payment for paid leave/holiday, absence from work, salary in lieu of notice of termination.

Incomplete Month and wages

A ‘complete month’ for the purpose of salary is defined as any month of a calendar year. The working days of the month excludes rest days and non- working days but includes public holidays.

A situation to compute wages for an incomplete month may arise in the following scenarios, when an employee

• Starts work after the first day of the month
• 在本月的最后一天之前留下就业
• 在本月休假一天或更长时间

计算不完整月份工资的公式如下：

{Monthly gross rate of pay/ Total number of working days in that month}* Actual days worked

Payment for Work done on Public Holiday

所有员工在EA有权11 paid public holidays a year and the employee and employer may mutually agree to substitute a public holiday for any other day. However, if the employee is on an unauthorised leave or on an approved unpaid leave on the day before or after the public holiday, he is not entitled to public holiday pay.

If situation warrants, the employer may require the employee to work on a public holiday. In that case, the employer must pay an extra day’s salary at the basic rate of pay. If the employee works beyond the normal working hours on a public holiday he must be paid at least 1.5 times of his basic rate of pay as overtime payment.

Payment for Rest Day Work

Rest day can be a Sunday or any other day that is mutually agreed. It is an unpaid day. The maximum number of working days between two rest days is 12 days.

如果在雇主的要求下完成工作：
如果员工在正常的每日工作时间的一半工作，有一天的薪水
如果员工在正常工作时间的一半以上，两天的薪水

If work is done at employee’s request:
Half day’s salary if employee works for half of the normal daily working hours
One day’s salary if employee works more than half of the normal working hours

Overtime Payment
在EA下涵盖的员工不需要每天工作超过八小时或每周44小时工作。他也不需要连续6个小时工作，没有休息，休息不能不到45分钟。

Employer must pay overtime wages if an employee is required to work beyond the specified hours of work. Such overtime cannot exceed 72 hours in a month, but this excludes work done within normal working hours during rest days or public holiday.

员工必须支付至少1.5倍的每小时基本工资率超过正常工作的工作。加班费适用于

• Workmen earning not more than $4,500 basic monthly salary and
• Non-workmen employees earning not more than $2,500 basic monthly salaries

截至2014年4月1日至2014年4月1日，非工作人员应付的加班费率将盖住2,250美元或17.70美元/小时的薪水。

Paid Leave

支付年假

Depending on the period of service with the employer an employee is entitled to paid annual leave, which is 7 days for employees with period of one year of service. The annual leave entitlement increases by 1 day per year additional year of service thereafter and is capped at a maximum of 14 days for employees whose service exceeds 8 years and above. If the employee does not have adequate annual leave the employer may allow him to avail unpaid leave.

Annual leave can be encashed in the event of termination, resignation or at the employer’s discretion or based on contractual terms between the employer and employee.

Paid Sick Leave

如果雇主至少为雇主工作至少3个月，员工有权获得病假的员工。有效的病假休假的天数有权取决于他的服务期。员工的最多有效的病假休假时间至少为6个月为14天，才能进行门诊治疗，住院治疗60天。

The employer is legally obliged to bear the medical consultation fees for an employee who has worked for at least three months. The employer is obliged to bear cost such as medication, ward charges etc, depending on the medical benefits provided for in the employee’s employment contract or the collective agreement signed between the company and the union.

走vernment Paid Leave Schemes

In order to conjure a pro-family system and to support young families, the government introduced several paid leave schemes, apart from the standard maternity leave (16 weeks). These schemes include childcare leave, extended childcare leave, paternity leave, shared paternal leave and adoption leave. Employers must take note of these paid leave scheme and are obliged to honour such leave applications by their employees.