Employment Claims: What Counts as Wrongful Dismissal
Not every dismissal an employee feels is unfair meets the legal threshold. Here is where the line sits.
Being dismissed is not automatically wrongful. In Singapore, the question is whether your employer had a fair and lawful reason, and followed the right process.
Key points
Dismissal without just or sufficient cause. This covers situations such as discrimination based on age, race or gender, being denied benefits or entitlements like maternity benefits, being punished for exercising an employment right, and being pushed into resigning.
What usually doesn’t count. Dismissal for misconduct, poor performance or redundancy is generally not wrongful if the contractual notice was given or paid in lieu. If you accept the reason for your dismissal, you may only have a claim for notice pay.
Service requirements can apply. Managers and executives dismissed with notice need at least six months of service to bring a claim. Other employees, and anyone dismissed without notice, have no minimum.
The deadline is short. You must file within one month of your last day of employment, or the claim is time-barred. Pregnancy-related dismissals have a longer window of two months from the date of delivery.
Claims are mediated first. If mediation fails, the claim can go to the Employment Claims Tribunals, where the maximum claim is $20,000.
What to do next
- Get your dismissal in writing. Without proof of termination, an employer may claim you were absent without leave and counterclaim for notice pay.
- Gather evidence: your termination letter, emails and messages with your employer.
- Note the one-month deadline from your last day of work, and act early.
- File a claim for mediation through the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), or go through your union if you are a member.
- Consider a lawyer if your claim may exceed the tribunal limit or the case is complex
