Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower recently ruled that Singaporean employees were not discriminated against when Resorts World Sentosa laid off nearly 400 of its 12,000 employees. The layoffs occurred in June as a result of China’s crackdown on corruption. About 60 percent of the casino resort’s staff are Singaporeans.
After several dismissed employees complained of “discriminatory practices, unfair dismissals and inadequate compensation,” the Ministry of Manpower opened an investigation. The former employees said the resort favored foreign workers over locals, and claimed Resorts World Sentosa had placed an ad in Malaysia to hire “foreigners at lower Singapore dollar salaries.”
The ministry particularly studied cases involving former casino workers who earned less than $3,333 per month, and therefore were covered by the Singapore Employment Act. However, officials found “a significantly smaller proportion of Singaporeans,” or about 16 percent of the entire workforce, were affected by the job cuts. In addition, the ministry found that those who were laid off were not being replaced, and that the advertisement for jobs was for Resorts World Genting.
A ministry spokesperson said, “MOM found that the assessment criteria, such as overall work performance, past records of counseling sessions and warnings for retrenchment to be consistently applied.”
Resorts World Sentosa officials said the short notice period was due to “security concerns,” and the affected workers were paid “salary in lieu of notice.” The property was told by the ministry to improve in three areas: 1) “Explaining the business situation resulting in the need for retrenchment; 2) “Clarifying the reasons for giving affected employees a short notice period; and3) “Elaborating on the factors that were considered in its assessment criteria for retrenchment.”
A Resorts World Sentosa spokesman said the property had “adopted the Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower to ensure that retrenchment is carried out in a responsible, transparent and sensitive manner.”
