Powers of Commissioner and investigating officers
Open ↗9.—(1) The Commissioner or any investigating officer has, for the purposes of this Act, power to do all or any of the following:(a)
enter without previous notice at any reasonable time any place of employment for the purposes of conducting any audit which is deemed necessary by the Minister, or make such inquiry into the terms and conditions of employment of any employee as the Commissioner or investigating officer thinks fit;
(b)
examine orally any person supposed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act, and reduce into writing the answer given or statement made by the person who is bound to state truly the facts and circumstances with which the person is acquainted, and the statement made by the person must be read over to him or her and must, after correction, be signed by the person;
(c)
require the employer to produce before the Commissioner or investigating officer any other employee employed by the employer together with any contract of service or other document concerning the employment;
(d)
make copies of any document required to be produced under paragraph (c);
(e)
take or remove for purposes of investigations any document;
(f)
take such photographs or audio or video recording, as the Commissioner or investigating officer thinks necessary, of the premises and persons reasonably believed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act;
(g)
require any person to produce any article which is relevant to any investigation carried out under this Act and, if necessary, to take into custody any such article.
(2) Any person who hinders or obstructs an investigating officer in the exercise of the power under this section or makes to an investigating officer exercising the power under this section a statement either orally or in writing which is false in any material particular shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
Investigations of complaints and offences
Open ↗9A.—(1) Whenever —(a)
the Minister, the Commissioner or an investigating officer has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence under this Act has been committed;
(b)
the Minister, the Commissioner or an investigating officer wishes to inquire into any matter for which provision is made by this Act or any dispute as to such matter, or any matter connected with an investigation; or
(c)
any person complains of any breach of any provision of this Act,
the Minister, the Commissioner or the investigating officer (as the case may be) may summon any person whom he or she has reason to believe can give information regarding the subject matter of the inquiry or complaint, and the person so summoned is legally bound to attend at the time and place specified in the summons to furnish information or documents, produce any article or give statements, and to answer truthfully all questions which the Minister, the Commissioner or the investigating officer (as the case may be) may put to the person.
(2) Any person who in any way wilfully obstructs the service of or obedience to such summons, and any person summoned who neglects to attend as required in such summons, shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) The Commissioner or investigating officer has the power to report any failure by such person to attend as required by the summons under subsection (2) to a Magistrate, who may thereupon issue a warrant to secure the attendance of that person as required by the summons.
Obstructing employee, etc.
Open ↗9B.—(1) An employer or other person who in any way obstructs any employee in appearing before the Commissioner pursuant to any summons issued under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
(2) A person who wilfully obstructs or impedes any entry, inquiry or investigation made under this Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalties
Open ↗9C. A person who is guilty of any breach or any offence under this Act for which no penalty is otherwise provided shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both, and for a subsequent offence under the same section to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.
Composition of offences
Open ↗10.—(1) An investigating officer, with the approval of the Commissioner, may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:(a)
one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence;
(b)
$1,000.
(2) On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.
(3) The Minister may make regulations to prescribe the offences that may be compounded.
Exemption
Open ↗11.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, exempt with or without conditions any person or class of persons from all or any of the provisions of this Act.
(2) The Minister may at any time revoke any such exemption, vary or revoke any existing conditions or impose new conditions.
Restriction on contracting out
Open ↗11A. Any term of a contract of service or collective agreement is void insofar as it purports —(a)
to exclude or limit the operation of any provision of this Act; or
(b)
to preclude any person from making a representation, a claim or an application under this Act.
Power to issue tripartite guidelines
Open ↗11B. The Minister may issue guidelines relating to the re‑employment of eligible employees and the terms and conditions of re‑employment of eligible employees, in the form of tripartite guidelines, and upon the publication of such guidelines in the Gazette, regard may be had to the guidelines for the purposes of Part 3 and sections 8A, 8B and 8C of this Act and section 34 of the Industrial Relations Act 1960.[21/2016]
Regulations
Open ↗12.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for any purpose for which regulations may be made under this Act and for prescribing anything which may be prescribed and generally for the purpose of carrying this Act into effect.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Minister may make regulations with respect to any of the following matters or for any of the following purposes:(a)
for prescribing the procedure in respect of any proceedings under this Act;
(b)
for any incidental matters for which the Minister thinks it expedient to provide with a view to securing compliance of this Act;
(c)
for prescribing the form of the orders to be made under this Act;
(d)
for any provision of this Act that is applicable to the re‑employment of an employee to apply, with such modifications as may be specified in the regulations, to —(i)
the renewal of a re‑employment contract; or
(ii)
the employment of an eligible employee by another employer as mentioned in section 7C(1)(b).[21/2016; 5/2017]
Saving of other written law
Open ↗13. Nothing in this Act operates to relieve any employer of any duty or liability imposed upon the employer by the provisions of any other written law for the time being in force.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
