Singapore's Workplace Fairness Act: a plain-English guide for employers

What is the Workplace Fairness Act?

The Workplace Fairness Act 2025 (Act 8 of 2025) turns the main parts of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices into law. Until now, fair employment in Singapore rested on those guidelines. The Act makes discrimination against employees and job applicants a legal wrong, gives people a way to make a claim, and requires employers to handle complaints through their own process first.

It comes in two parts. The Workplace Fairness Act was passed on 8 January 2025 and sets out the duties. The Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill, passed on 4 November 2025, sets out how claims are mediated and decided. MOM intends both to start at the same time.

When does it take effect?

MOM currently targets end-2027. That is later than the 2026–2027 window first mentioned, to give employers and mediators time to prepare. MOM has said it will keep monitoring readiness and may adjust the date, so treat end-2027 as a target, not a fixed day. The useful reading is simple: you have about a year to put a process in place and get used to running it.

Who does it apply to?

The Act applies to employers with 25 or more employees. Section 4 excludes employers with fewer than the "prescribed number", which the Act sets at 25 and lets the Minister change by notice in the Gazette. Firms below the threshold are still bound by section 26 (fair consideration in work pass applications) and should still follow the tripartite guidelines. MOM has said the small-firm exemption will be reviewed in five years.

The Act does not itself say how employees are counted, for example whether part-time staff count. Read who the Workplace Fairness Act covers for what is known and how to plan if you are close to 25.

What does it prohibit?

Employers must not make an adverse employment decision because of a protected characteristic. This covers hiring, decisions during employment (such as pay, promotion or training) and dismissal. The protected characteristics are:

• Age
• Nationality
• Sex, marital status, pregnancy and caregiving responsibilities
• Race, religion and language
• Disability and mental health conditions

There are carve-outs. An employer can consider a characteristic where it is a genuine requirement of the job (for example for health and safety, privacy or legal reasons). Preferring to hire Singaporeans remains allowed. Religious organisations can make decisions based on religion, and choosing to hire persons with disabilities or senior workers is supported.

The grievance-handling duty

Section 27 is the part every covered employer must act on before the Act starts. A grievance, under section 25, is a grievance, allegation or complaint an employee raises with the employer about discrimination by the employer, or about harassment. The employer must develop a process under which it commits in writing to:

1. Inquire into each grievance, in a stated manner.
2. Review each grievance, in a stated manner.
3. Inform the employee who raised it of the outcome of the review, in a stated manner.
4. Keep a written record of every inquiry and review, for a stated period.
5. Not disclose the employee's identity, or information about the inquiry or review, unless reasonably necessary.

Section 27(2) adds that the employer must inform all its employees of the process in writing. "In a stated manner" and "for a stated period" mean you choose how and for how long, write it down, and then do what you wrote. The step-by-step version is in how to set up a WFA grievance process, and there is a free grievance procedure template you can adapt.

Protection against retaliation

Section 28 prohibits retaliation. An employer must not act against an employee because the employee, or someone else, raised a grievance or took part in the process. The Act lists retaliatory acts, including dismissing the employee, deducting their salary and harassing them. In practice this means any warning, transfer or appraisal that follows a grievance needs a clear, recorded reason unrelated to it.

Penalties for employers

Failing to develop the written grievance process, or failing to tell all employees about it in writing, is a civil contravention under section 29. An authorised officer can issue a contravention notice with an administrative penalty. Under section 44 the penalty is set by regulations and capped at SGD 5,000 per occasion, or SGD 10,000 for a second or later occasion. Officers can also issue directions, and ignoring a direction without reasonable excuse is an offence. Discrimination and retaliation themselves can lead to claims by the affected person and to enforcement action. MOM has said it will take an education-first approach and support employers who breach the law inadvertently.

How disputes are resolved

A person who believes they were discriminated against should first raise it through the employer's grievance process. If that does not resolve it, they must try mediation before going further:

1. Internal grievance process at the company.
2. Mediation. The Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management mediates claims up to SGD 30,000; other approved providers, such as the Singapore Mediation Centre, handle larger claims.
3. Adjudication, as a last resort. The Employment Claims Tribunals hear workplace discrimination claims up to SGD 250,000; larger claims go to the High Court.

Time limits to request mediation generally range from one to 12 months, depending on the claimant's situation. MOM also intends judgments to be publicly accessible, so a poorly handled case can become public.

What to do before end-2027

1. Confirm whether you have, or will soon have, 25 or more employees.
2. Write your grievance procedure: who receives grievances, how they are inquired into and reviewed, how the outcome is given, how long records are kept and who may see them.
3. Tell every employee about it in writing, in a language they understand.
4. Decide who investigates, and keep anyone named in a grievance, including the employee's own manager, out of it.
5. Set up one place to keep grievance records, with access limited to the people handling each case.
6. Check hiring adverts, appraisal and promotion criteria for references to protected characteristics.

TAFEP has published a Grievance Handling Toolkit with a handbook, a checklist and sample policies and forms. Use it alongside this guide, and speak to a lawyer about specific cases. Not sure where you stand? The readiness check covers the grievance duties in six questions.

Common questions