The Code of Practice: Chief Executives’ and Board of Directors’ Workplace Safety and Health Duties will, when gazetted in October 2022, apply to all directors and equivalent officers involved in policy making and executive decisions for business affairs of companies in all industries, even for companies which have no manual work and little risk of physical injury.

While Hong Kong and mainland China have had anti-discrimination laws in place that protect employees from various types of discrimination at the workplace, recent developments and increasing employee awareness of their rights have led to increased focus on this area. Whilst Singapore does not currently have any workplace discrimination laws per se, there have been some recent developments.
Join us for this webinar where our employment team from Baker McKenzie Hong Kong & China, and Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow will explore the discrimination laws and regulations in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, consequences for non-compliance, and what employers need to bear in mind regarding their human resources policies.

The Singapore government has released White Paper On Singapore Women’s Development on 28 March 2021, the first whole-of-society review of women’s development. Acting on data collected and analysis of feedback on areas where women still face barriers and challenges, the White Paper sets out 25 collective action plans in five main areas to advance women’s development. Employers should note that the first of these areas concerns providing equal opportunities in the workplace, and will involve: strengthening laws to address unfair and discriminatory employment practices, and developing advisories and guidelines to encourage adoption of flexible work arrangements.

As part of our continued efforts to guide clients through these challenging times, the Asia Pacific Employment & Compensation Group brings you these recorded webinars which provide key and practical insights on employment and compensation trends and major challenges being faced by businesses across the region.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, at his recent National Day Rally speech, acknowledged the anxiety felt by middle income Singaporeans over foreign work pass holders, especially with the economic uncertainty heightened by COVID-19.

Addressing what he described as personal and emotional arguments by Singaporeans over perceived foreign competition for jobs and opportunities, the prime minister signaled that the government will introduce new anti-discrimination laws with a range of penalties extending beyond the current administrative penalties, such as restrictions on an employer from hiring foreign workers.

In an earlier article Making it Mandatory to be Vaccinated Against COVID-19: A Framework for Employers, Baker McKenzie associates considered the issue of whether employers can require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 based on the existing legal framework at the time. Since then, the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation released two advisories on 2 July 2021 and 23 August 2021 to clarify the Singapore government’s policy on this issue and to provide guidance to employers regarding COVID-19 vaccination in the employment context.

Regulators around the world are seeking to strengthen governance frameworks to deter and prevent the perpetuation of employee misconduct and to stem the “rolling of bad apples.”

In this webinar recording, Eunice Tan and Grace Fung from our financial services regulatory team, and Zhao Yang Ng and Sonia Wong from our employment and compensation team discuss and analyze regulatory developments proposed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in meeting these objectives.

In our earlier article Making it Mandatory to be Vaccinated Against COVID-19: A Framework for Employers1 (“Article”), we considered the issue of whether employers can require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 based on the existing legal framework at the time. Since then, the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation released an advisory on 2 July 2021 to clarify the Singapore government’s policy on this issue and to provide guidance to employers regarding COVID-19 vaccination in the employment context (“Advisory”).

In 2016, an influential Agency Manager of Prudential Assurance Company Singapore orchestrated a mass exodus of over 200 agents to a competitor, Aviva Financial Advisors Pte Ltd. Prudential, in turn, sued the Agency Manager for up to S$2.5 billion in damages, in a high-profile case which attracted significant media attention in Singapore.

To provide greater clarity on the existing misconduct reporting requirements for representatives and broking staff, and enhance standards of investigations on misconduct, MAS will be revising the misconduct reporting regime. Further, to standardise industry practices on due diligence conducted on prospective representatives and broking staff, MAS will be mandating financial institutions to perform and respond to reference check requests, with a list of baseline mandatory information that must be obtained or provided in the reference check.