Authorities helping 29 Jollibean workers recover unpaid salaries
Tay Hong Yi for The Straits Times
Soya milk chain Jollibean has agreed to pay the salaries it owed 22 employees in instalments and the Ministry of Manpower is investigating the company for offences under the Employment Act.
The Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) has also ordered the employer to pay salaries to three employees while another four cases are still either undergoing mediation or waiting for a decision by ECT.
This brings the total of workers receiving help for unpaid salaries to 29, said the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and MOM in a reply to The Straits Times on July 12.
The agencies were responding to reports of unpaid salaries and late payments that occurred sporadically since December 2024.
MOM will continue to extend help to affected employees.
"We would like to remind employers to pay salaries and CPF (Central Provident Fund) contributions on time to their employees," TADM and MOM said in the joint statement.
They added that employees in Singapore who are not paid salaries on time can file their claims with TADM, which will assist workers in recovering their salaries either through mediation or referring the case to the ECT, which has legal powers to order employers to pay owed salaries to their workers.
Employees who require assistance can contact TADM at tal.sg/tadm/contact-us
Jollibean Foods director Shahrul Nazrin Mohd Dahlan was reported in the media to have said that the company has a new owner and it is working closely with the authorities to resolve salary issues by the end of July.
A counter staff The Straits Times spoke to on July 11 said her wages had been unpaid for May and June, and her salary for December 2024 delayed by around three weeks.
She had to dip into her savings for rent and personal expenses, said the Chinese national in her late 40s, adding that other front-line staff were also owed salaries.
"There was no forewarning; It would have been reassuring if the management had at least warned us that the company was struggling but hopes to turn things around under new owners."
Employment lawyer Goh Seow Hui told The Straits Times that workers are taking a risk if they stay on their jobs despite salary arrears that a company promises to resolve after an ownership transition.
"The employer's promises do not improve the worker's legal position. If there are better alternative opportunities available, the worker is better off resigning and making a legal claim for the salary arrears."
An ongoing ownership transition is not a justifiable reason for salary arrears, added Ms Goh, a partner at Bird & Bird ATMD.
