Key takeaways
- The Employment Act covers local and foreign employees on a contract of service, including part-timers, with a few exceptions such as domestic workers and civil servants.
- Part 4 (hours, overtime and rest days) applies only to workmen earning a basic salary of $4,500 or less and other employees earning $2,600 or less.
- Issue written key employment terms within 14 days of the first day of work, and an itemised payslip with every salary payment.
- Pay salary at least monthly, within 7 days after the salary period ends, and overtime within 14 days.
- Staff with 3 months’ service get paid annual leave, sick leave and hospitalisation leave, plus 11 paid public holidays a year.
Most small F&B and retail owners meet the Employment Act piece by piece: a question about overtime, a sick leave dispute, a staff member who walks out without notice. This guide puts the main employer duties in one place so you can check your contracts, payroll and policies against them. It is a summary based on MOM’s published guidance, not legal advice. Where a situation is unusual, check the MOM page linked in each section or ask the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management.
What the Employment Act is and who it covers
MOM describes the Employment Act as Singapore’s main labour law. It sets the basic terms and conditions at work for the employees it covers. Anyone working under a contract of service with an employer is covered, local or foreign, whether they are:
- employed full-time, part-time, on a temporary basis or on a contract; and
- paid by the hour, the day, the month or piece-rated.
Employees who work less than 35 hours a week are part-time employees and are also covered by the Employment of Part-Time Employees Regulations. The Act does not cover seafarers, domestic workers, or statutory board employees and civil servants. Foreign employees on a work pass are also covered by the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act; our guide to hiring foreign workers explains those extra duties.
For an F&B group, that means your service crew, cooks, cashiers, supervisors and outlet managers are all covered by the core of the Act. What changes with seniority and pay is whether Part 4 applies.
Part 4: hours, overtime and rest days in brief
Part 4 of the Act covers rest days, hours of work and other conditions of service. MOM says it applies only to:
- a workman (someone doing mainly manual labour) earning a monthly basic salary of $4,500 or less; and
- an employee who is not a workman earning a monthly basic salary of $2,600 or less.
Basic salary excludes overtime, bonuses, the annual wage supplement, allowances and similar payments. Part 4 does not cover managers or executives.
In outline, MOM’s page on hours of work, overtime and rest days sets normal hours at up to 44 a week, overtime at no less than 1.5 times the hourly basic rate, a general limit of 12 hours of work a day, up to 72 overtime hours a month, and one rest day a week. The detail, including split shifts, shift averaging and rest-day pay, is in our dedicated guide to working hours, overtime and rest days for F&B staff. We do not repeat it here.
Key employment terms (KETs) in writing
MOM’s FAQ on KETs for part-time employees says you must issue written key employment terms to every employee who is covered by the Employment Act, was employed on or after 1 April 2016, and is employed under a contract of service of two weeks or longer. That includes part-timers; the two weeks refers to the length of the contract, not the number of days worked.
You have 14 days from the employee’s first day of work to issue them. They can be in a written contract, company handbook, website or circulars. MOM’s KETs page lists what they must include unless an item does not apply:
- employer and employee names, job title, main duties, start date and, for fixed-term contracts, the duration;
- working arrangements: daily hours, working days per week and the rest day;
- salary period, basic salary (and the hourly, daily or piece rate where relevant), fixed allowances and fixed deductions;
- overtime payment period and overtime rate, where overtime applies;
- other salary components such as bonuses and incentives;
- types of leave, other medical benefits, probation period and notice period; and
- optionally, the place of work if it differs from the employer’s address. For multi-outlet operators, MOM strongly encourages including it.
MOM offers blank and annotated KETs templates and a KETs verification tool that checks work arrangements against the Act. Our guide to hiring F&B staff covers the offer stage.
Itemised payslips and records
Since 1 April 2016, MOM’s rules on itemised payslips require employers to issue them to all employees covered by the Act. Give the payslip with the payment, or within three working days if that is not possible. On termination or dismissal, it goes with the outstanding salary. Soft or hard copy, even handwritten, is acceptable.
A payslip must show, where applicable: employer and employee names, payment date, basic salary (or rate and hours, days or pieces for hourly, daily and piece-rated staff), the salary period, allowances, other payments such as bonuses and public holiday pay, deductions such as the employee’s CPF contribution, overtime hours and pay, and net salary. Our guide to employee CPF deductions explains the CPF line.
You must keep a record of payslips issued: the latest two years for current employees, and for ex-employees, the last two years kept for one year after they leave.
Paying salary on time, and what you may deduct
MOM’s page on paying salary sets the timing rules for covered employees:
- Pay salary at least once a month, within 7 days after the end of the salary period.
- Pay overtime within 14 days after the end of the salary period.
- When you terminate the contract, pay on the last day of employment, or within 3 working days if that is not possible. The same applies to dismissal for misconduct.
- When an employee resigns without serving notice, pay within 7 days of the last day.
Singapore has no general minimum wage, but non-payment of salary is an offence. Sector rules still apply: F&B employers should check the Progressive Wage Model for food services.
Deductions are tightly limited. MOM’s page on salary deductions allows them only for listed reasons, such as authorised or unauthorised absence, damage or loss the employee is responsible for (after an inquiry, and no more than 25% of one month’s salary), accommodation or approved amenities, recovery of advances or loans, CPF, and other purposes the employee consents to in writing. Total deductions in a salary period generally cannot exceed 50% of the salary payable. You cannot deduct the foreign worker levy from a migrant worker’s pay, and you cannot deduct cash shortfalls as “liquidated damages”.
Leave: annual, sick and hospitalisation
MOM’s annual leave rules give paid annual leave to covered employees after 3 months’ service. The entitlement grows with service:
| Year of service | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th and after |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days of annual leave | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
Leave is pro-rated for incomplete years based on completed months. For sick leave, covered employees with at least 3 months’ service get up to 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave and up to 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave a year, with the 60 days including the 14. The full entitlement applies after 6 months; between 3 and 6 months it is pro-rated. Employees must inform you within 48 hours of an absence.
MOM’s leave pages also cover maternity, paternity, shared parental, childcare, adoption and unpaid infant care leave. Several of these are government-paid, so check the eligibility rules before you process a claim.
Public holidays
Covered employees are entitled to 11 paid public holidays a year: New Year’s Day, two days of Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Good Friday, Labour Day, Vesak Day, National Day, Deepavali and Christmas Day. For F&B, the key rules are:
- If you ask someone to work on a public holiday, pay an extra day’s salary at the basic rate, or by mutual agreement give a public holiday in lieu. Our guide to public holidays and leave for F&B staff covers rostering around festive peaks.
- If the holiday falls on a rest day, the next working day becomes a paid holiday.
- If it falls on a non-working day, give another day off or a day’s salary in lieu.
- An employee absent without consent or reasonable excuse on the working day before or after the holiday is not entitled to holiday pay.
Ending employment: notice, dismissal and final pay
MOM’s page on termination with notice says either party can end the contract by giving the notice in the contract or paying salary in lieu of notice. Notice must be in writing, and the employer does not have to give a reason. The notice period must be the same for both sides. If the contract is silent, the Act sets it by length of service:
| Length of service | Notice period |
|---|---|
| Less than 26 weeks | 1 day |
| 26 weeks to less than 2 years | 1 week |
| 2 years to less than 5 years | 2 weeks |
| 5 years or more | 4 weeks |
Under MOM’s rules on termination without notice, an employee who is absent for more than 2 working days in a row without approval or without informing you is in breach of contract, and you may terminate without notice. Unused annual leave must be paid on termination, except for dismissal for misconduct. Our guide to letting staff go covers notice, the inquiry process and final pay.
Dismissal must be for a valid reason. MOM’s page on wrongful dismissal lists misconduct, poor performance and redundancy as valid reasons, and treats dismissal on discriminatory grounds, or to deprive someone of benefits, or to punish them for exercising an employment right, as wrongful. Employees can file a claim with TADM within one month of their last day.
Disputes, TADM and keeping up with changes
Salary and wrongful dismissal claims go to the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) for mediation first. TADM’s “Ask TADM” chatbot gives immediate answers and can book appointments, and employers can file claims through its eServices only for notice pay. Unresolved cases move to the Employment Claims Tribunals.
The Act is amended in stages, and MOM publishes an “Amendments to the Employment Act” page from its Employment Act section. Check it, and the salary thresholds above, before you update contracts each year.
Employment Act checklist for F&B and retail employers
- Issue written KETs within 14 days to every employee on a contract of two weeks or more, including part-timers. Our F&B employment contract template is built around the KETs.
- Issue an itemised payslip with every payment and keep payslip records.
- Pay salary within 7 days of the salary period and overtime within 14 days.
- Check each staff member’s basic salary against the Part 4 thresholds.
- Track annual leave, sick leave and public holidays per employee.
- Put notice, termination and final-pay steps in writing.
Accurate hours and sales data make the payroll side easier. ChaChaCha, powered by AppsPOS, gives each staff member their own login with staff permissions and provides reports by outlet and period, which helps when you reconcile sales incentives. For payroll itself, compare options in our guide to payroll software for F&B, and ask us to confirm what staff data can be exported. Talk to us about your set-up.
