Quick Answer
Singapore’s Employment Act is the country’s main labour law. It covers virtually all employees under a contract of service, except seafarers, domestic workers, and statutory board or civil service staff. It sets minimum standards for salary, hours of work, overtime pay and rest days, with Part 4’s strongest protections applying to workmen earning up to $4,500 a month and other employees earning up to $2,600 a month.
What Is the Employment Act?
The Employment Act is Singapore’s main labour law. It lays down the basic terms and working conditions that apply to employees working under a contract of service — the baseline every employment contract in Singapore has to meet, regardless of what the contract itself says. An employer and employee cannot agree, even in writing, to terms that fall below what the Act requires.
The Act covers matters like salary payment, hours of work, overtime pay, rest days, and — since 2016 — the written Key Employment Terms every employer must issue. It applies alongside other Singapore employment legislation (the CPF Act, the Workplace Safety and Health Act, the Retirement and Re-employment Act), but it’s the Employment Act that sets the floor for day-to-day employment terms.
⚖️ MOM Requirement
Every employer in Singapore must meet the Employment Act’s minimum standards for any employee under a contract of service. You cannot contract out of these protections — a clause in an employment contract that offers less than the Act requires is unenforceable to that extent, even if the employee signed it.
🏛️ Source: Ministry of Manpower — Employment Act
Who Is Covered — And Who Isn’t
All employees working under a contract of service are covered, whatever their nationality, employment type, or how they’re paid. That includes full-time, part-time, temporary and contract staff, and employees on hourly, daily, monthly or piece-rate pay. Part-time status applies to anyone working less than 35 hours a week.
Three groups sit outside the Act entirely: seafarers, domestic workers, and statutory board employees or civil servants (who have their own separate terms of service). If your business doesn’t employ any of these three categories, every one of your Singapore-based employees is covered.
🔍 Classification Note
“Employee under a contract of service” is a different legal category from an independent contractor engaged under a contract for service. Genuine freelancers, consultants and gig workers fall outside the Employment Act entirely — but calling someone a “contractor” on paper doesn’t make it true if, in practice, you control their hours, tools and how the work gets done. Misclassifying an employee as a contractor to avoid the Act’s obligations carries real legal and CPF risk.
🏛️ Source: Ministry of Manpower — Who Is Covered
Workmen vs Non-Workmen: Why the Distinction Matters
Being “covered” by the Employment Act is only half the picture. A second classification — workman or non-workman — decides whether you also get Part 4’s protections: hours of work limits, overtime pay, rest days, and other conditions of service.
A workman is someone whose work is mainly manual labour: cleaners, construction workers, labourers, machine operators, drivers, piece-rate workers, and supervisors who spend more than half their time on manual work. Part 4 applies to workmen earning a basic monthly salary of $4,500 or less, and to other (non-workman) employees earning $2,600 or less. Basic salary here excludes overtime, bonuses, the annual wage supplement, productivity incentive payments, expense reimbursements and allowances — so a payslip with a high total but a lower basic component can still fall under the threshold. Managers and executives are generally excluded from Part 4 regardless of salary.
⚖️ MOM Requirement
Part 4 coverage is based on actual job duties and basic salary — not job title. An employee titled “Assistant Manager” who spends most of their time on manual work and earns $4,500 or less in basic monthly salary can still be a workman for Employment Act purposes.
Getting Classification Right: Compliant vs Non-Compliant
| ✅ Compliant | ❌ Non-Compliant |
|---|---|
| Classifies staff as workman or non-workman based on their actual day-to-day duties and basic salary | Assumes every salaried staff member is automatically excluded from Part 4 based on job title alone |
| Calculates basic salary by excluding overtime, bonuses, AWS and allowances before checking it against the $4,500 / $2,600 thresholds | Uses gross monthly pay (including allowances and bonuses) to decide whether Part 4 applies |
| Reviews classification when a role’s duties change significantly, not just at hiring | Sets classification once at hiring and never revisits it as duties evolve |
Hours of Work, Overtime Pay and Rest Days
For employees covered under Part 4, standard hours are capped at 9 hours a day or 44 hours a week for a 5-day (or shorter) work week, and 8 hours a day or 44 hours a week for a longer work week. Whatever the arrangement, no employee may be made to work more than 12 hours in a single day, except in specific circumstances MOM has approved in advance.
Overtime work must be paid at not less than 1.5 times the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay, capped at 72 overtime hours a month (an employer needs MOM’s approval to exceed this). The hourly basic rate is calculated differently depending on how the employee is paid — for a monthly-rated employee, it’s (12 × monthly basic rate of pay) ÷ (52 × 44).
Every Part 4 employee is entitled to one rest day a week — a full day from midnight to midnight (shift workers can instead get a continuous 30-hour period). An employer cannot make an employee go more than 12 days without a rest day.
💡 Employer Tip
The most common overtime mistake isn’t the 1.5x rate — it’s the base number it’s multiplied against. Allowances, bonuses and reimbursements don’t belong in the hourly basic rate calculation. If your payroll system is folding a transport or phone allowance into “basic pay” before running the overtime formula, you’re either overpaying or underpaying every affected employee, every month.
Key Employment Terms: What Must Be in Writing
Since 2016, employers have had to issue written Key Employment Terms (KETs) to every employee covered by the Employment Act who is engaged for 14 days or more, within 14 days of their first day of work. A KETs document isn’t optional paperwork — it’s what MOM, and the employee, will point to first if there’s ever a dispute about what was agreed.
MOM’s KETs checklist runs to 18 items where applicable: the employer’s and employee’s names, job title and main duties, start date (and end date, if fixed-term), working hours and rest days, salary period, basic salary, fixed allowances and deductions, overtime payment period and rate, other salary components like bonuses, leave entitlements, medical benefits, probation period, notice period, and place of work. Professional and managerial employees who aren’t entitled to overtime pay can skip the two overtime-related items.
⚖️ MOM Requirement
KETs must be issued in writing — soft copy (e.g. email or PDF) or hard copy both count — within 14 days of the employee’s first day of work. Verbal agreement on terms, however clear, doesn’t satisfy this requirement.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
MOM actively investigates and prosecutes Employment Act breaches, and publishes a running list of employers convicted under the Act — a public record that’s easy for a customer, employee, or business partner to find. Exact penalties depend on the specific offence and are set out in the Act itself, so treat any MOM inquiry or notice as something to respond to properly, not something to wait out.
⚠️ Penalty Risk
Employers convicted of Employment Act offences are named on MOM’s public convictions list. Beyond the direct legal consequences, that public record is itself a business risk — it’s visible to current employees, prospective hires, and anyone checking a company’s standing before doing business with it.
Non-Compliance Penalties
The Employment Act sets out specific penalties per offence (for example, non-payment of salary or failure to issue KETs are each treated separately), so a fine or prosecution outcome depends on which provision was breached and whether it’s a repeat offence. Rather than estimate a figure here, check the specific provision in question or consult an employment lawyer — and see MOM’s public list of convicted employers for real examples of enforcement outcomes.
None of this needs to be complicated to get right. Most Employment Act compliance comes down to three habits: classify staff correctly (workman/non-workman, and employee/contractor), issue KETs on time, and calculate overtime off the correct base salary. Our Notice Period Reference and Pay & CPF guide cover two of the areas employers most often get wrong next, and the Employment Law Glossary is a quick way to check a term you’re unsure of. If you’re setting up hiring processes for the first time, our Hiring & Onboarding hub is the natural next stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Employment Act in Singapore?
The Employment Act is Singapore’s main labour law. It sets the minimum terms and working conditions — covering salary payment, hours of work, overtime pay, rest days and written employment terms — that apply to virtually every employee working under a contract of service in Singapore.
Does the Employment Act apply to foreign employees in Singapore?
Yes. The Act covers all employees under a contract of service regardless of nationality. A foreign employee on an Employment Pass, S Pass or Work Permit gets the same Employment Act protections as a Singaporean or Permanent Resident colleague doing the same kind of work.
What is Part 4 of the Employment Act?
Part 4 is the section covering hours of work, overtime pay, rest days and other conditions of service. It doesn’t apply to every employee — only to workmen earning up to $4,500 a month in basic salary and other employees earning up to $2,600 a month, with managers and executives generally excluded regardless of salary.
What is the difference between a workman and a non-workman?
A workman is someone whose work is mainly manual labour — cleaners, construction workers, labourers, machine operators, drivers and piece-rate workers, plus supervisors who spend most of their time on manual work. Everyone else covered by the Act who isn’t a manager or executive is a non-workman. The distinction matters because the Part 4 salary threshold is different for each group: $4,500 for workmen, $2,600 for non-workmen.
Does the Employment Act cover managers and executives?
Managers and executives are covered by the Employment Act’s general provisions, but they’re generally excluded from Part 4 — so they typically aren’t entitled to the statutory overtime pay, hours-of-work limits or rest-day rules that apply to workmen and other lower-earning employees, regardless of their salary.
Do I have to give my employees a written contract in Singapore?
You must issue written Key Employment Terms (KETs) within 14 days of an employee’s first day of work if they’re covered by the Employment Act and engaged for 14 days or more. KETs aren’t the same as a full employment contract, but they cover the terms that matter most — salary, hours, leave, probation and notice — and MOM treats them as mandatory, not optional.
Last verified: 10 September 2026
WorkRightSG provides general information only. Nothing on this site constitutes legal advice. For advice specific to your situation, consult a qualified employment lawyer or contact the Ministry of Manpower directly.