Part IV of the Employment Act & Section 33 are applicable only to: * Workmen earning not more than $4,500 basic monthly salaries; and * Other employees earning not more than $2,000 basic monthly salaries (excluding, overtime, bonus, Annual Wage Supplement, productivity incentives and allowances). * Definition of terms * Contractual hours of work * Maximum working hours * Break time * Overtime Allowance * Rest Days
Definition of terms * A “week” refers to a continuous period of seven days commencing on Monday and ending on Sunday. * An employee's “hours of work” is the period during which the employee is expected to carry out the duties assigned by his/her employer. It does not include any intervals allowed for rest, tea breaks and meals.
Maximum working hours
An employee is not allowed to work for more than 12 hours within a day except in the following circumstances: a. Accident or threat of accident; b. Work that is essential to: i. the life of the community; ii. national defence; or iii. security; c. Urgent work to be done to machinery or plant; or d. An interruption of work which was impossible to foresee.
An employee can be required to work up to 12 hours a day if the employee gives his consent in writing, after the provisions of Sections 38 and 40 of the Employment Act have been clearly explained to him. He must be informed of the daily working hours, the number of working days in each week and the weekly rest day.
Employers that require their employees to work more than 12 hours (maximum 14 hours) a day are required under section 40 of the Employment Act, to apply for overtime exemption from the Ministry of Manpower. (Download the application form for overtime exemption for work more than 12 hours a day)
Break time
An employee is generally not required to work more than six consecutive hours without a break. However, if