New Dispute Resolution Process for Workplace Discrimination

Singapore has implemented a comprehensive framework to address workplace discrimination, marking a major shift in how employees can seek recourse for unfair treatment. The landmark legislation was introduced in two parts, through two Bills. The first was the Workplace Fairness Bill, which was tabled in November 2024, and passed in Parliament in January 2025. The second and more recent of the two Bills is the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill, which was tabled on 14 October 2025 and passed in Parliament on 4 November 2025.

This article will focus on the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill, which amends the Workplace Fairness Act (WFA) to establish a structured pathway for aggrieved employees to make claims against employers who have engaged in discriminatory practices. The WFA is expected to come into force in 2027.

This legislation marks a pivotal moment in Singapore’s employment landscape. For the first time, employees will have access to a formal, legally enforceable mechanism to challenge workplace discrimination, moving beyond the previous regime of non-binding guidelines. For employers, the framework reinforces the need to uphold fair, merit-based employment practices and to establish robust internal systems for addressing grievances effectively.

What is the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill?

The Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill (Bill) refers to the Bill which was passed in Parliament on 4 November 2025. The Bill establishes a detailed, clear framework that provides employees who experience workplace discrimination with an avenue to seek redress amicably and expeditiously. At the same time, the Bill introduces safeguards to discourage and deter frivolous and vexatious claims.

As explained above, the Bill adds to Singapore’s broader legislative framework around workplace discrimination and amends the WFA. The WFA prohibits discriminatory practices, imposes obligations on employers like mandating the institution of grievance handling processes, and establishes penalties for violations. The Bill complements this by setting out how employees can pursue claims and obtain remedies when workplace discrimination occurs.

For a more detailed discussion on the WFA, you can refer to our earlier article covering the FAQs on Singapore’s New Workplace Fairness Act.

What types of workplace discrimination claims does the WFA cover?

The WFA prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on stipulated protected characteristics:

Age
Nationality – this refers to an individual’s citizenship of any country or status as a resident of any country.
Sex – this refers to the sex assigned to an individual at birth or the sex to which an individual has been re-assigned (for individuals who have undergone a sex reassignment procedure). The protected characteristic of sex does not include the sexual orientation (i.e. who the individual is attracted to) or gender identity (i.e. the gender that the individual identifies with) of an individual.
Marital Status – this refers to the fact that the individual is or is not married, has been divorced, is widowed, is separated from his/her spouse, and the number of times that he/she has married.
Pregnancy – this refers to the fact that a woman who is or was pregnant, has said that she wants to bear children, is breastfeeding or has breastfed an infant, is absenting herself from work under a maternity leave provision, or has or had contracted an illness related to her pregnancy.
Caregiving Responsibilities – this refers to an individual who has a responsibility to care for or support any family member (e.g. spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents or grandchildren).
Race
Religion
Language Ability – this refers to an individual’s ability to read, speak, write or understand any language.
Disability – this refers to the fact that the individual has autism, an intellectual disability, physical disability or sensory disability.
Mental Health Conditions – this refers to the fact that an individual has been diagnosed with any mental disorder by a registered medical practitioner.

Who are the key stakeholders involved in establishing this framework?

The dispute resolution framework was developed in collaboration with the tripartite partners, comprising the following entities:

Ministry of Manpower (MOM): MOM is the government body responsible for formulating and implementing labour policies related to the workforce in Singapore. MOM also oversees compliance, conducts investigations into serious breaches, and imposes penalties where appropriate.
National Trades Union Congress (NTUC): NTUC is a national confederation of trade unions as well as a network of professional associations and partners across all sectors in Singapore. NTUC’s objectives are threefold:
- To boost and maintain Singapore’s competitiveness and help workers remain employable for life
- To lift the social status and well-being of their members and workers
- To build a strong, responsible and caring labour movement
Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF): SNEF is a national trade union of employers that represents the interests of all sectors of the economy. SNEF’s goal is also to preserve and advance tripartism (i.e. the collaboration between unions, employers and the Government) and enhance flexibility in the labour market, so that employers can implement responsible employment practices for sustainable growth.

What are the main aims of the dispute resolution framework?

The main aim of the dispute resolution framework is to offer a fair, accessible, and efficient avenue for the amicable settlement of disputes. It is underpinned by three guiding principles:

Facilitating the amicable resolution of disputes between parties;
Ensuring that claims are resolved in an accessible, timely, and just manner, while discouraging frivolous or unmeritorious claims; and
Promoting workplace harmony and safeguarding social cohesion.

What is the Dispute Resolution Framework?

The dispute resolution framework is designed to encourage parties to resolve matters amicably at the earliest stage, with adjudication as a measure of last resort. To achieve this, an individual who experiences workplace discrimination would have to resolve matters according to the following broad steps:

Each step is elaborated on in greater detail in their respective sections below.

1. Internal grievance handling

Under the dispute resolution framework, the first step for an employee who has experienced workplace discrimination is to raise this with the employer and go through the company’s internal grievance handling process. Each company will have an internal grievance handling process, as the WFA makes it mandatory for employers to not only develop a proper grievance handling process, which must be put down in writing, but to also inform all their employees in writing of the process. According to the WFA, the grievance handling process must include the following:

Employers must inquire into and review each grievance raised by any employee.
Employers must inform each employee who has raised a grievance, of the outcome of the review.
Employers must keep, for a stated period, a written record of every inquiry and review, and must not disclose to any person the identity of any employee who has raised a grievance or any information in relation to any inquiry or review done.

Therefore, an employee who has experienced workplace discrimination can expect to go through the following general steps. However, the specific steps may differ from employer to employer, depending on the exact internal grievance handling process put in place by the employer:

The employee will first raise the grievance with the employer. This will typically be done through the human resources department, and may be done either via the submission of a written complaint or a brief interview between the human resources personnel and the employee. At this stage, the employee should also provide reasons for the grievance raised.
The employer will then look into and review the grievance raised. This will likely involve more interviews with the employee if the issue is a complex one, or even escalation up the ranks in the company if the issue calls for it (e.g. the solution to the issue can only be made by management).
After conducting the necessary investigations into the grievance and reaching a conclusion on how to resolve the situation, the employer will then inform the employee of the outcome of the review. The outcomes could vary, but would typically fall into one of many buckets:
- First, the employer could determine that the employee’s grievance is unmeritorious, and decide not to change anything.
- Second, the employer could determine that the employee’s grievance is valid, but decide not to do anything about it.
- Third, the employer could decide that the employee’s grievance is valid, and take steps to address the grievance. For example, if the employee’s complaint is that a particular policy discriminates against him/her, the employer may decide to rescind the policy.

As can be seen above, the process would typically only involve the employer and the employee, without any external legal representation on either side. The employer’s decision also would not be legally binding on the parties involved.

2. Mediation

If the matter is not resolved internally, and the employee wishes to pursue the grievance further, the Bill makes it mandatory for the employee to attempt mediation with the employer to resolve the dispute, before he/she can bring the dispute for adjudication. Mediation provides a safe environment for parties to engage in open dialogue and work towards a mutually satisfactory resolution that addresses their respective needs.

Mediation can be sought with external mediation service providers, who will be able to appoint mediators who are trained to handle employment disputes. Such mediation service providers include the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) or the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC). TADM mediators can handle employment disputes with a value of up to $30,000, whereas the SMC mediators will be able to mediate higher value claims above $30,000. MOM has begun developing the capabilities of mediators so that when the WFA comes into force, there will be a ready pool of mediators with the requisite skillsets to mediate workplace discrimination disputes fairly and professionally.

There may be fees associated with the mediation, depending on the mediation service provider engaged:

For TADM, the only fees payable are the non-refundable filing fees for the mediation, amounting to $10 per claim if the claimed amount is $10,000 or under, and $20 per claim if the claimed amount is over $10,000.
For the SMC, the general fees payable for mediations are set out below, though it remains to be seen whether a separate fee schedule will be established for employment disputes. For disputes valued at $60,000 or under, the applicable fees are:
- Non-refundable filing fee of $27.25.
- Mediation fee ranging from $218 to $392.40, which covers the mediator’s fees for the mediation session and SMC’s services for the mediation up to the mediation session.
- Additional hourly rate ranging from $54.50 to $98.10 for mediation sessions that exceed 4 hours.

At the mediation, the parties can expect to go through the following general process:

The parties will first brief the mediator on the facts of the dispute and issues to be discussed. This can be done at a preliminary meeting (i.e. a meeting between the mediator and each party before the mediation itself). This may sometimes also be done in writing before the mediation.
At the mediation itself, during a joint meeting (i.e. where both parties are present with the mediator), the mediator will introduce the parties to the mediation process and facilitate a discussion on the issues in dispute. Each party will also be given the opportunity to share their views on the dispute.
If necessary, the mediator may decide to have separate meetings (i.e. where the mediator meets each party separately), to discuss matters further and explore possible solutions. This would usually be employed where tensions are high, or where the mediator considers it more useful to speak to each party separately, e.g. if the power dynamics are such that one party feels more comfortable speaking without the other present.
At the end of the mediation, there could be a few possible outcomes:
- If parties can agree on ways to resolve the dispute, this could be documented in the form of a settlement agreement, which, once signed by the parties, would be legally binding on them just like any other contract.
- Conversely, if parties are unable to agree on a way to resolve the dispute, the mediation would end, and the employee would have to consider whether to pursue the matter further.

It should be noted that for mediation with TADM, lawyers are not allowed to represent any party in the proceedings. On the other hand, for mediation with the SMC, there is no similar restriction against legal representation, and parties may wish to have a lawyer present with them at the mediation.

3. Adjudication

If mediation fails, the employee can then consider adjudication as a measure of last resort. The claim would typically have to be brought either to the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT) or to the High Court for adjudication, depending on the value of the claim. For workplace discrimination claims of $250,000 and under, the ECT will hear the claims. On the other hand, where the claim exceeds $250,000, the High Court will hear the claim.

The ECT was established under the Employment Claims Act to help workers and employers resolve their employment disputes expeditiously and affordably rather than by going through litigation in the regular courts. The ECT is also designed to have simplified rules and procedures and is generally more affordable, expeditious and easy to navigate.

For a more detailed overview of how the ECT operates, including the types of cases it hears and its procedures, you may refer to our article on All You Need to Know About the Employment Claims Tribunals.

An employee filing a claim with the ECT can expect to go through the following process:

Within four weeks of receiving a Claim Referral Certificate from TADM, the employee will file his/her claim online through the Community Justice and Tribunals System (CJTS).
The claim will be scheduled for a hearing before a judge. The claim will be heard in private, meaning that no one other than the parties will be able to attend the hearing. At the hearing, the judge will actively lead the proceedings by directing parties to speak, asking questions to gather relevant facts, and making it clear when issues raised by parties are out of line and irrelevant.
After each party has presented their case, the judge will consider all the facts and relevant evidence given by the parties before making the judgment. Most cases at the ECT are resolved within six months. The possible outcomes are as follows:
- The tribunal may order the employer to pay monetary compensation to the employee.
- For wrongful dismissal claims related to discrimination, the tribunal may order reinstatement.
- The tribunal may dismiss the claim if it finds no discrimination occurred.
- The tribunal may award costs against either party.
The orders made by the ECT are legally binding and enforceable in the same manner as orders made by the District Court. This means that enforcement actions can be taken against the party that fails to comply with an ECT order. Parties can appeal to the High Court only with permission.

The ECT is designed to be a less adversarial (i.e. more cooperative and less confrontational) setting for workplace discrimination claims to be resolved. In line with this, legal representation is not allowed at the ECT. However, union representatives can advise employees and employers on their rights and obligations, under specific conditions:

For employees: Union representatives can represent union members in unionised companies for claims up to $250,000 (inclusive) in mediation sessions and ECT hearings.
For employers: Union representatives (e.g. from SNEF) can represent employer members in mediation sessions and ECT hearings for claims between $30,000 and $250,000 (inclusive), and when the employee can be represented by their own worker union.

As mentioned above, one of the guiding principles of the Bill is the need to discourage frivolous or unmeritorious claims. To this end, the Bill also ensures that there are systemic safeguards in place to achieve this, including:

Employers can apply to strike out frivolous and vexatious claims (i.e. to have the claims dismissed at an early stage before even going to the hearing/trial), and judges will be empowered to strike out such claims even without any application;
Employees who bring frivolous and vexatious claims may be ordered to pay the employers’ costs of defending the claims;
Employees who make such claims can also be investigated by the Police for abusing the Court’s processes; and
Employees who repeatedly pursue such claims can be prevented from commencing further legal proceedings.

For an employee going through the High Court process, he/she can expect to go through the following more extended process instead:

Filing of Originating Claim: The claimant files an Originating Claim in the High Court, setting out the facts of the case and the relief sought.
Pleadings: Both parties submit detailed written arguments (pleadings) outlining their respective positions.
Document production: The parties exchange relevant documents and evidence.
Trial: A trial is conducted before a High Court judge.
Judgment: The judge issues a written judgment deciding the case.

For more detailed information about the civil litigation process in the High Court, you may refer to our comprehensive article on Civil Litigation: How to Sue in Singapore (Step-by-Step Guide).

What about discrimination that might occur prior to employment?

For jobseekers who have encountered discrimination during the recruitment process, they are not required to go through the company’s internal grievance process before attempting mediation. It would be impractical to have that same requirement, especially since the jobseeker would not yet be an employee with the company.

Instead, jobseekers can approach the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) for assistance instead. TAFEP will then follow up directly with the employer to pursue the case, including working with the employer to put in place fair employment practices and ensure there are no further discriminatory practices. If necessary, TAFEP is empowered to report discriminatory practices that do not adhere to the Guidelines to MOM for further investigations.

You can refer to our other article on Where to Get Help for an Employment Dispute in Singapore, for more information on how you can bring your claim to TAFEP.

Are there any time bars/limits for workplace discrimination claims?

Under the WFA, claimants must file a mediation request within the stipulated time bars. These timelines serve to encourage timely reporting of alleged incidents, ensuring that evidence remains reliable, while also giving employers greater certainty that past matters will not be reopened after an extended period. The stipulated time bars are as follows:

For workplace discrimination claims at the pre-employment stage, the mediation request must be filed 1 month after being given notice by the employer of the allegedly discriminatory act (e.g. notice that the employer has decided not to hire you, on the basis of one of the protected characteristics).
For workplace discrimination claims during employment, the mediation request must be filed 6 months after being given notice by the employer of the allegedly discriminatory act (e.g. notice that the employer has put in place a new workplace policy, which discriminates against the employee on the basis of one of the protected characteristics).
For workplace discrimination claims at the end of one’s employment, the mediation request must be filed 1 month after the last day of employment.

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The passing of the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill represents a landmark development in Singapore’s employment law framework. By establishing a clear, structured pathway for addressing workplace discrimination, the legislation empowers employees to seek redress while maintaining a focus on amicable resolution and workplace harmony.

Whether you are an employee or an employer, you may wish to consult an employment lawyer for further advice or guidance on how the WFA and the new Bill affect you.

If you are an employee who has experienced workplace discrimination, an employment lawyer will be able to provide you with advice on the next steps to take to obtain an outcome that is most optimal for you. A lawyer would be able to consider your circumstances, assess the merits of your claim, advise on your rights and discuss the available modes of recourse that you have.

If you are an employer, and your employee has come to you with a grievance, the lawyer will be able to conduct an assessment of the merits of the potential claim against you, and advise you on the best course of action to take.

Disclaimer

The information provided does not constitute legal advice. You should obtain specific legal advice from a lawyer before taking any legal action. Although we try our best to ensure the accuracy of the information on this website, you rely on it at your own risk.