Singapore's Workplace Fairness Dispute Resolution system

The Workplace Fairness Act 2025 (“WFA First Bill”) and the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (“WFA Dispute Resolution Bill”) have been passed in Parliament (on 8 January 2025 and 4 November 2025 respectively) (collectively, the “WFA”). It has been projected that the WFA (comprising of both Bills) will take effect from 2027 onwards.¹

The WFA provides for protections against discrimination and introduces a statutory process for individuals to resolve workplace fairness disputes against employers. In summary:

The WFA provides for the statutory right for employees to bring claims for workplace fairness at the Employment Claims Tribunal (“ECT”) or the General Division of the High Court (“GDHC”).
Prior mediation is mandatory before a claim may be brought to the ECT or the GDHC.
The ECT will hear workplace fairness claims up to and including S$250,000.² Claims above S$250,000 must be brought in the GDHC.³

THE ECT AND GDHC WILL HANDLE WORKPLACE FAIRNESS-RELATED DISPUTES

What claims will be handled

A workplace fairness claim may now be brought by an employee or an individual against an employer if it arises from an alleged discriminatory employment decision.⁴ This claim may be brought in the ECT (in addition to the disputes which the ECT currently hears (e.g. statutory salary-related disputes arising out of the Employment Act, Retirement and Re-employment Act and the Child Development Co-Savings Act, as well as contractual salary-related claims by employees))⁵ or the GDHC.

An alleged discriminatory employment decision involves an employment decision⁶ made by an employer that adversely affects an individual on the ground of a protected characteristic of the individual (unless certain exceptions apply).⁷ Protected characteristics refer to the following:⁸

Age;
Nationality;
Sex;
Marital status;
Pregnancy;
Caregiving responsibilities;
Race;
Religion;
Language ability;
Disability; and
Mental health condition.

Who can make a claim

The WFA Dispute Resolution Bill allows employees and individuals affected by discriminatory employment decisions – including those related to hiring, employment decisions during employment, dismissal, retrenchment, or termination - to bring claims against employers.

As the claim limit for the workplace fairness claim to be heard by the ECT is S$250,000, even more professionals, managers and executives can file such claims with the ECT.⁹

Claims may be brought in the ECT or the GDHC

As stated above, claims up to and including S$250,000 must be brought in the ECT.

Claims exceeding S$250,000 must be brought in the GDHC.¹⁰ Proceedings before the GDHC, just like in the ECT, will be conducted in private and the GDHC would adopt a judge-led approach where the Court would identify the relevant issues in the action and ensure that the relevant evidence is adduced by the parties.¹¹

Time limits for bringing claims

Employment decision in relation to hiring: Within one month after notice of decision, or two months after the date of decision if no notice is given.¹²
Employment decision during employment: Within six months after notice of decision or after the date of decision if no notice is given.¹³
Employment decision in relation to dismissal, retrenchment, termination: Within one month after the last day of employment.¹⁴

EMPLOYERS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AN INTERNAL GRIEVANCE PROCESS

Ideally, employees would first raise workplace fairness issues to their employer via the internal grievance process.¹⁵ Under the WFA First Bill, an employer must develop an internal grievance process (and inform their employees of in writing) by committing in writing to: inquiring and reviewing each grievance raised by an employee, informing them of the review’s outcome, keeping a written record of the inquiry and review and not disclosing to any person (unless reasonably necessary) the identity of the employee or information on any inquiry or review.¹⁶

PRIOR MEDIATION IS MANDATORY BEFORE THE ECT OR GDHC MAY HEAR A DISPUTE

If internal efforts to resolve the matter fail, mediation by an approved mediator is mandatory before a workplace fairness dispute may be heard by the ECT or GDHC.

The employee must first submit a request to mediate to the Commissioner for Workplace Fairness, listing all workplace fairness disputes and paying a prescribed fee.¹⁷ As soon as reasonably practicable, the Commissioner for Workplace Fairness must refer every workplace fairness dispute in the request to an approved mediator to conduct the first mediation session.¹⁸

If a settlement is reached during mediation, a settlement agreement would be entered into.¹⁹ If no settlement is reached, or if the respondent does not attend the mediation, a claim referral certificate would be issued, allowing the claimant to proceed to make a claim at the ECT or GDHC.²⁰

Similar to how proceedings under the ECT have been conducted, parties in workplace fairness disputes are also generally required to act in person and are not permitted to have legal representation during mediation or in ECT proceedings (save for employers that are not individuals who may be represented by a representative).²¹

However, if the claim is more than S$250,000 (i.e. any eventual proceedings will be brought before the GDHC), parties may be represented by an advocate and solicitor during mediation.²²

For claims up to and including S$250,000, it is anticipated that union representatives may be permitted to represent individuals under specific circumstances (e.g. where the individuals are union members).²³ This would be consistent with the legislative intent for union members to receive support from their unions, including representation at mediation and at the ECT hearing.²⁴ This would also align with the current approach in the ECT, which permits representation of union members for wrongful dismissal and salary-related disputes.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR EMPLOYERS / EMPLOYEES

The new dispute resolution process under the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill provides employees with a manner to address workplace fairness, while ensuring that employers have a structured process for resolving such disputes. Mandatory mediation before court proceedings can be brought may also resolve such workplace fairness disputes without the need for court proceedings.

Overall, both employers and employees should keep abreast of these developments to understand their rights and obligations under the new framework for workplace fairness and be aware that claims may be heard at the ECT or the GDHC if such a dispute arises.

As it is anticipated that the Ministry of Manpower will also develop guidelines to ensure that claim amounts are appropriate and to discourage exaggerated demands, employers and employees should also stay updated on any such guidelines.²⁵

¹ Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”), Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (14 October 2025) (accessible at: https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/2025/1014-workplace-fairness-dispute-resolution-bill-factsheet).
² See clause 4 of the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (“WFA Dispute Resolution Bill”) which proposes the addition of s 36A(4) to the Workplace Fairness Act 2025 (“WFA First Bill”).
³ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36A(3) to the WFA First Bill.
⁴ See clause 2 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 2(j) to the WFA First Bill and see s 17(1) of the WFA First Bill.
⁵ See the First, Second and Third Schedule of the Employment Claims Act 2016 for the types of disputes that would be heard by the Employment Claims Tribunal.
⁶ See s 17(1) of the WFA First Bill and ss 5 to 7 of the WFA First Bill which set out when an employment decision has been made by the employer.
⁷ See ss 20 to 24 of the WFA First Bill.
⁸ See s 8 of the WFA First Bill.
⁹ See the observations by Dr Tan See Leng during the Second Reading of the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill, Singapore Parliamentary Debates, Official Report (4 November 2025) vol 96.
¹⁰ Note that there may be claims which do not exceed S$250,000 but can be heard by the General Division of the High Court if it exceeds the prescribed claim limit under the proposed addition of s 12A(7) to the Employment Claims Act 2016 (see clause 4 of the Bill which proposes the addition of s 36A(5) to the WFA First Bill).
¹¹ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36P to the WFA First Bill.
¹² See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36E(2) to the WFA First Bill. This refers to notice given by the employer or deemed notice.
¹³ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36E(3) to the WFA First Bill. There are exceptions to these periods, such as if an employee takes maternity leave.
¹⁴ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36E(4) to the WFA First Bill. There are exceptions to these periods, such as if an employee is pregnant.
¹⁵ MOM, Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (14 October 2025) at Annex A (accessible at: https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/2025/1014-workplace-fairness-dispute-resolution-bill-factsheet and annex-a--overview-of-dispute-resolution-framework--workplace-fairness-dispute-resolution-bill.pdf).
¹⁶ See s 27 of the WFA First Bill.
¹⁷ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36E(1) to the WFA First Bill.
¹⁸ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36F(2) to the WFA First Bill.
¹⁹ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36J to the WFA First Bill.
²⁰ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36K to the WFA First Bill.
²¹ See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill, which proposes the addition of s 36I(1) and s 36I(2) to the WFA First Bill.
²² See clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36I(4) to the WFA First Bill.
²³ MOM, Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (14 October 2025) (accessible at: https://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press-releases/2025/1014-workplace-fairness-dispute-resolution-bill-factsheet). See also clause 4 of the WFA Dispute Resolution Bill which proposes the addition of s 36I(3) to the WFA First Bill, where individuals may be represented by any other individual prescribed by regulations made under section 44.
²⁴ See the observations by Dr Tan See Leng during the Second Reading of the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill, Singapore Parliamentary Debates, Official Report (4 November 2025) vol 96.
²⁵ NTUC PME, Dispute Resolution Bill explained: How workers and employers can get a fairer resolution (23 October 2025) (accessible at: https://www.ntuc.org.sg/pme/news/Dispute-Resolution-Bill-explained-How-workers-and-employers-can-get-a-fairer-resolution/).

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