Court raises payout to $5,711 after finding $300 allowance can't swallow hours worked
A Singapore employer that paid a foreign worker's overtime through a flat $300 monthly allowance has lost on appeal, in a High Court ruling delivered on April 7, 2026 by Justice Philip Jeyaretnam, clarifying that overtime cannot be bundled into fixed monthly allowances for work permit holders.
The involved Gena Hulash Ram, an Indian national who worked as a packer at Lim Joo Huat Enterprise Pte Ltd from December 17, 2022 to August 25, 2023. His In-Principle Approval Letter declared a basic monthly salary of $1,000, a $200 allowance for "Housing, Amenities and Services," a $300 "Others" allowance, and an overtime rate of $7.87 per hour. There was no separate written employment contract between the employee and the employer.
The employer treated the $300 "Others" allowance as a fixed sum covering all overtime, regardless of hours worked. If the worker did 20 hours of overtime, he received $300. If he did 40 hours of overtime, he still received $300. The employer's stated reason was administrative convenience, to avoid the cost of tracking and verifying actual overtime hours.
Justice Jeyaretnam acknowledged that "leaving aside the Regulations, such an administrative arrangement could sensibly be agreed between an employer and employee." But under the Employment of Foreign Manpower (Work Passes) Regulations 2012, the arrangement was unlawful.
Paragraph 6B of Part IV of the Fourth Schedule of...
Allegations of North Korean Involvement in the May 18 Movement,Claims of a Fake Degree for Lee Junseok, and More The police have once again summoned Jeon Hangil, a 55-year-old YouTuber and former K...