The High Court of Singapore has deemed that a Bangladeshi worker is entitled to payment for the days off he worked as a site supervisor, as per Part IV of the country’s Employment Act.
The matter came to light in a report published by the Straits Times, a daily newspaper based in Singapore.
The court overruled an earlier finding of an assistant commissioner of labour, who had believed that Hasan Shofiqul, 33, being a site supervisor, was employed in an executive position.
The labour official had ruled that Hasan could not rely on Part IV of the Employment Act for calculating due payments for normal hours of work done on days off and public holidays, between Feb 6 and Dec 31, 2015.
Hasan’s employer, China Civil (Singapore) had argued that he was entitled to a flat contractual rate of $50 a day. However, the rate was lower than the rates payable under the Act.
A crucial issue in the dispute on payable overtime rates was whether to categorize a site supervisor as a manager or executive.
Following the Manpower Ministry proceedings, the labour official held last year that Hasan was entitled to $5,510 in overtime payments, which included work done on days off and public holidays.
The Bangladeshi citizen was initially a construction worker in the company's project. Later, he was promoted to be a site supervisor in charge of six workers. Hasan had clocked long hours during his tenure as a site supervisor.
Justice George Wei noted that Hasan had kept his own records for overtime work while the employer's records for it were not properly kept.
The judge issued his judgment last week when he made clear the fact that Hasan was employed as a site supervisor is not sufficient by itself to lead to the conclusion that he is an executive, adding that his supervisory role did not necessarily remove his status as a workman.
He further noted that the system of recording for hours of work of supervisors like Hasan was unclear, and in any case, not well implemented.
The judge ruled that in the light of his findings, the case be returned to the labour official for re-consideration of the sum payable to Hasan.
The judge added that the labour official is now in a better position to examine the actual relevant records and decide on the overtime pay for Hasan from February to December 2015.
Giving his reaction, Hasan said that he is happy with the court’s decision. He also thanked Transient Workers Count Too, an NGO that assists foreign labourers in Singapore and aided him in his case.
Hasan was defended by lawyers Melvin Chan and Tan Toh Eng, while lawyer Tng Kim Choon represented China Civil (Singapore).
